• 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

OF" 


Received 
Accession 


TASKS   BY  TWILIGHT 


BY 


ABBOT  KINNEY 

AUTHOR  OF  "  THE  CONQUEST  OF  DEATH 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


NEW  YORK 

27  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD  STREET 


LONDON 

BEDFORD  STREET,  STRAND 


^niclurbocher 
1893 


COPYRIGHT,    1893 
BY 

ABBOT   KINNEY 


Electrotyped,  Printed,  and  Bound  by 

Ube  Iknicfcerbocfcer  ipress,  flew  l!?orft 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


CONTENTS. 


EDUCATION     .  i 

PHYSIQUE     ........  19 

BOYS                   ........  2O 

MANUAL  LABOR         .......  28 

PRACTICE   MAKES    PERFECT            •              •              •              •              •  33 

OBSERVATION             .....  6 1 

EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS    .  ** 64 

THOUGHTS 101 

DIET .154 


iii 


TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 


EDUCATION. 

"  The  hard  toiler  is  slow,  patient,  and  conservative,  while  the  stu- 
dent is  progressive,  as  thought  will  impatiently  outrun  the  slow  march 
of  stubborn  reality.  By  joining  study  with  labor,  we  combine  the 
spirit  of  progress,  development,  and  adaptation  with  the  spirit  of  con- 
servatism, both  so  necessary  for  the  historic  development  of  a  nation." 
— SAMUEL  ROYCE. 

EDUCATION  is  generally  considered  to  be  the 
literary  preparation  given  young  persons  by  teach- 
ers at  home  or  in  our  schools  and  universities.  This  is 
the  commonly  received  interpretation  of  the  word.  It  is  an 
interpretation  narrow  and  incomplete  to  the  last  degree. 

Education,  in  its  complete  sense,  is  the  preparation  for 
living,  and  begins  at  birth.  That  portion  of  it  obtained 
from  books  and  in  the  schools  is  the  outward  flourish, 
the  trimming  and  the  ornamentation,  as  compared  to 
the  solid  requirements  necessary  for  a  successful  life. 

The  absolute  essentials  for  a  useful  and  happy  exist- 
ence are  three  :  First,  animal  strength — to  be  a  good 
animal — to  have  health,  vitality,  and  physical  power. 
Without  a  due  amount  of  this,  no  other  requirements,  no 
knowledge  or  information,  can  be  utilized.  The  physique 


2  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

must  be  there  to  use  knowledge.  To  the  extent  that 
physical  power  or  vitality  is  absent,  a  human  being's 
knowledge  is  less  useful.  As  the  physique  diminishes  in 
power,  so  must  the  beneficial  activity  of  the  human  being 
be  likewise  diminished. 

The  second  quality  essential  to  a  useful  life  is  the 
power  of  observation  and  adaptation.  We  must  be  able 
to  see  things  when  we  see  them  ;  when  we  look  at  a  thing 
we  must  observe  it,  recognize  its  qualities  and,  remember 
it.  The  circumstances  in  our  lives  are  so  varied,  so  com- 
plicated, so  changeful,  that  no  rule  can  be  laid  down  for 
details  in  any  person's  life.  Persons  do  and  must  depend, 
in  their  lives,  upon  their  own  individual  capacity  of  ob- 
servation and  adaptation,  certainly  while  any  progress 
takes  place  in  society.  We  must,  if  we  are  successful,  act 
in  harmony  with  the  inexorable  laws  of  nature.  These 
laws,  never  changeable  in  themselves,  are  so  varied  by 
the  circumstances  surrounding  us,  that  the  rules  for  suc- 
cessful action  in  any  given  person's  life  must  be  inscribed 
and  treasured  in  their  own  consciousness. 

The  third  quality,  without  which  life  must  be  a  failure, 
is  character.  By  character  is  meant  that  combination  of 
qualities  which  enables  us  to  use  the  knowledge  derived 
from  observation,  through  our  physique,  so  as  to  achieve 
results. 

The  human  animal  is  gregarious.  All  human  lives  are, 
therefore,  affected  by  the  lives  of  others. 

Success  may  be  measured  by  the  capacity  an  individual 
has  of  combining  the  lives  and  activities  of  others,  and 


EDUCATION'.  3 

shaping  these  to  his  own  ends.  For  these  purposes,  a 
person  must  have  the  decision,  the  perseverance,  and  the 
concentration  to  know  what  he  wants,  and  to  pursue 
that  desire  to  a  conclusion.  And  above  all  things  he 
must  have  the  power  of  securing  the  confidence  and 
aid  of  his  fellow-men.  Energy  and  honesty  are,  there- 
fore, important  elements  in  character.  Even  the  chief  of 
a  band  of  thieves  must  have  a  degree  of  honesty  to  secure 
the  confidence  and  obedience  of  his  band. 

With  these  three  qualities  in  their  perfection,  any  one 
reaching  maturity  will  certainly  be  successful. 

The  lack  of  the  literary  accomplishments  and  of  the 
useful  information  furnished  by  the  schools  can  be  and 
is  being  every  day  overcome  outside  of  the  schools  by 
those  successful  without  their  aid. 

The  thoughtful  will  recognize  at  once  that  none  of 
these  three  essentials  are  customarily  taught  in  schools. 
On  the  contrary,  the  confined  and  sedentary  life  lived  by 
the  scholastic  student  is  always  detrimental  to  the  phy- 
sique. Often  the  consequences  result  in  serious  and 
permanent  disability,  and  not  infrequently  end  in  prema- 
ture death. 

The  second  quality  is,  as  schools  are  usually  managed, 
equally  dwarfed  and  injured.  The  thoughts,  the  state- 
ments, and  the  dogmas  of  others  are  taught  and  memo- 
rized at  the  expense  of  the  individual  powers  of  observation 
of  the  student  himself.  Instead,  therefore,  of  looking  at 
the  facts  of  nature  for  themselves,  and  seeing  what  those 
facts  are,  a  scholastic  person  is  taught  to  receive  with 


4  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

little  or  no  question  the  statements  of  others  in  regard 
to  them.  Such  influences,  therefore,  in  their  purity  tend 
to  prevent  a  realization  of  truth  and  to  prevent  that  per- 
sonal investigation  by  which  alone  we  can  appreciate  its 
force. 

As  to  the  third  requisite  the  schools  are  nearly  neutral. 
They  inculcate  some  of  the  qualities  of  character  as  sort 
of  side  issues.  And  to  this  extent  they  are  beneficial. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  system  of  teaching  the  dogmas  of 
others  as  facts,  even  when  these  dogmas  are  correct, 
must  have  a  tendency  to  diminish  the  individuality  and 
self-reliance  of  the  student. 

The  lack  of  physical  culture,  together  with  the  exces- 
sive strain  on  the  nervous  system,  often  upsets  the  balance 
of  the  organism.  The  reproductive  powers  suffer  espe- 
cially. An  investigation  now  going  on  shows,  thus  far,  a 
remarkable  diminution  in  childbirth  in  the  literary  or 
so-called  educated  classes  as  compared  to  the  hard 
workers. 

Upon  the  whole  it  is  my  opinion  that,  excluding  the 
playground  and  taking  only  the  school-room,  the  results 
of  an  education  derived  from  this  source  alone  would  be 
of  very  doubtful  advantage. 

These  words  without  explanation  cast  a  dark  shadow 
upon  our  school  system.  Such  is  not  my  intention. 
The  value  of  the  thought  and  experience  of  others,  taught 
in  our  schools,  it  is  impossible  to  estimate.  Our  school 
systems  have  been  ever  increasing  in  their  usefulness  and 
improving  in  their  methods.  The  development  of  late 


EDUCATION.  5 

years  has  been  very  great.  Owing  largely,  doubtless,  to 
the  rapidity  of  its  growth,  it  has  not  been  well  balanced. 

The  literary  portion  has  gone  unduly  ahead  of  other 
and  more  essential  departments.  Qualities  developed  at 
home  or  on  the  playground  have  been  neglected  through 
the  increased  time  required  for  the  literary  exercises. 

The  school  has  taken  more  and  more  the  energy  of 
the  child,  until  now  there  is  scarce  any  time  and  practi- 
cally no  energy  left  for  the  instruction  and  experience 
derived  by  young  persons  from  outside  sources,  and 
especially  at  home.  The  schools  have  thus  increased 
enormously  the  literary  education  they  originally  gave 
in  small  amount,  while  the  absorption  of  the  child's 
energy  prevents  it  from  learning  those  things  formerly 
acquired  in  the  fields,  playground,  farm,  or  home. 

The  school  has  taken  so  much  of  the  child's  time,  that 
it  now  monopolizes  the  child's  educational  capacity 
without  having  done  anything  to  give  it  the  class  of  in- 
formation it  formerly  acquired  elsewhere.  The  school 
has  never  taught  anything  but  numbers  and  letters  ;  now 
that  it  monopolizes  the  child,  its  one-sidedness  is  a 
serious  defect.  Reforms  happily  are  fast  being  intro- 
duced. 

I  do  not  wish  to  underestimate  the  great  value  of  the 
thought,  investigation,  and  experience  of  others.  We 
stand  upon  the  shoulders  (as  a  wise  man  has  said) 
of  those  who  have  gone  before  us.  We  thus  have  a 
broader  view,  and  the  smallest  of  us  can  see  and  under- 
stands things  not  appreciated  by  the  giant  intellects  of  the 


6  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

past.  To  derive  the  greatest  advantage  from  the  past 
work  of  mankind,  it  is  essential  to  understand  the  qualities 
with  which  nature  has  endowed  us,  and  the  limitations  to 
which  we  are  subject.  Parole  or  book  learning  is  merely 
the  tool  which  enables  us  to  acquire,  with  greater  facility 
and  rapidity,  the  knowledge  of  which  we  are  in  search. 
But  it  must  be  clearly  understood  that  it  is  not  the 
knowledge  itself.  A  man  may  be  a  good  physician,  as 
far  as  books  are  concerned,  but  until  he  has  worked  out 
and  demonstrated  the  science  for  himself,  until  he  has 
had  practice  and  experience,  he  is  not  in  the  true  sense 
a  physician.  And  it  is  so  in  everything  else.  A  man  may 
read  and  be  told  how  to  drive  a  horse,  but  he  is  not  a 
horseman  until  he  has  worked  out  the  management  of 
the  animal  by  his  own  experience.  The  results  of  the 
work  of  others  will  aid  him,  and  aid  him  more  if  he 
understands  that  it  is  not  the  knowledge  itself,  but  only  a 
tool  for  the  more  rapid  and  facile  acquirements  of  true 
knowledge. 

Books  are  the  guideposts  showing  the  short  cuts  to 
knowledge. 

The  development  of  individual  qualities,  individual 
capacities,  and  individual  character,  should  always  be  one 
of  the  main  aims  in  education. 

Success  in  life  must  always  depend  upon  the  individual. 
Self-reliance  and  the  qualities  leading  to  it  should  be 
developed.  The  school,  college,  and  university  systems 
now  prevailing  among  us  have  no  direct  influence 
favoring  the  real  essentials  of  life,  but,  as  has  been 


EDUCATION.  7 

pointed  out,  tend  rather  to  weaken  and  destroy  these 
qualities. 

It  is  for  these  reasons,  doubtless,  that  the  great 
men  of  the  Past  as  well  as  of  the  Present  have  been 
generally  what  are  called  self-made  men.  It  is  exceed- 
ingly rare  that  we  find  any  one  who  has  taken  the  first 
honors  in  our  schools  taking  the  first  place  in  the  contest 
of  life.  If  this  system  of  schooling  were  correct,  if  it 
really  led  to  a  successful  life,  it  must  be  evident  that  the 
greatest  success  in  the  school  would  be  followed  by  the 
greatest  success  in  life.  This  is  so  notoriously  not  the 
case  that  an  error  must  be  suspected  in  our  educational 
system. 

Those  who  graduate  from  colleges  are,  for  the  most 
part,  members  of  successful  and  prominent  families. 
They  therefore  inherit  superior  qualities  and  possess 
superior  influence,  which  with  a  proper  education  should 
push  them  certainly  to  the  front. 

This  point  indicates  their  value,  it  giving  to  the  young 
the  best  class  of  associates.  From  our  associates  we 
derive  prejudices  and  opinions,  manners  and  methods, 
all  of  great  importance  in  our  life  fight. 

A  system  must  be  judged  by  its  results,  and  it  is  gen- 
erally known  that  the  first-honor  men  of  our  colleges  are, 
for  the  most  part,  relegated  to  obscurity  on  their  entry 
into  real  life  ;  thus  showing  conclusively  that  success 
in  the  school  is  no  passport  to  success  in  life. 

While  our  educational  system  is  managed  as  it  is, 
it  would  not  be  well  to  devote  to  it  the  energy  or  time 


8  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

of  the  child  necessary  for  graduation  with  highest  honors, 
because  this  energy  and  time  can  be  better  used  in  other 
directions.  But  the  course  now  marked  out  in  our 
schools  should  not  be  entirely  neglected  ;  first,  because 
the  information  there  given  of  the  progress  of  humanity 
up  to  our  own  day  is  of  great  importance  and  advantage, 
and,  second,  because  it  is  always  well  to  live  under- 
standing one's  surroundings  and  in  harmony  with  them. 

Our  social  system  now  being  so  intimately  connected 
with  the  school,  and  its  standard  of  what  an  educated 
man  should  be  being  almost  universally  received,  it 
would  militate  against  the  social  standing  and  happiness 
of  any  one  not  passably  familiar  with  its  course. 

Another  point  to  consider  is  the  time  given  to  this  so- 
called  education  or  preparation  for  life.  We  have  now 
kindergartens,  schools,  high  schools,  preparatory  schools, 
colleges,  universities,  and  post-graduate  courses.  In 
special  avocations,  such  as  law  and  medicine,  it  is  con- 
sidered best  to  pass  through  all  these  except  the  post- 
graduate course  before  taking  up  the  specialty.  This 
requires  a  great  deal  of  time,  often  too  much  time.  We 
certainly  ought  to  consider  the  length  of  human  life  in 
connection  with  the  length  of  our  theoretical  preparation 
for  it.  To  take  all  of  life  for  this  purpose  would  be  mani- 
festly absurd  ;  so,  also,  it  would  be  unwise  to  take  no 
time  for  it.  The  balance  to  be  struck  is  by  that  prepara- 
tion which  will  enable  us  to  achieve  the  greatest  results. 

Correct  preparation  for  life,  or,  as  we  say,  education, 
should  be  a  review  of  the  experience  of  man  in  his  recent 


EDUCATION.  9 

evolution,  just  as  the  life  of  the  individual  from  the  egg 
is  a  review  of  the  evolutionary  history  of  all  life. 

In  this  last  case  we  pass  through  in  a  few  years,  days, 
or  hours,  what  it  must  have  taken  our  evolutionary  pro- 
genitors ages  to  progress  beyond.  So  it  must  be  in  educa- 
tion, a  general  review  for  all,  a  special  review  for  the 
special,  and  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  time  is  of  the 
essence  of  the  contract. 

That  too  much  time  is  often  given  up  to  prepara- 
tion cannot  be  doubted.  Probably  a  man  should  com- 
mence his  life-work  between  twenty-one  and  twenty-five, 
leaning  more  to  the  earlier  period  than  to  the  later.  His 
study  may  continue  till  death,  but  his  mere  preparation 
should  not  longer  monopolize  his  time  and  activities. 

It  should  be  distinctly  understood  that  there  is  no 
correct  information  given  in  our  schools  not  exceedingly 
useful  and  valuable  to  you,  my  children. 

The  point  that  parents  and  young  persons  should  con- 
sider is  that  the  time  of  giving  this  information  and  the 
method  of  giving  it,  the  undue  importance  given  to  some 
lines  and  the  neglect  of  others,  should  be  avoided  and 
counteracted  by  you. 

In  relation  to  the  time  of  giving  information,  our 
schools  are  much  in  error.  It  is  the  custom  now  to  take 
very  young  children, — absorbing  most  of  their  time  and 
energy  upon  a  great  variety  of  studies,  most  of  which  either 
have  no  immediate  connection  with  their  surroundings, 
lives,  or  future,  or  no  such  connection  pointed  out.  The 
information  given  is  acquired  parrot-like — that  is  to  say, 


10  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

it  is  recited  correctly  as  given  in  the  books,  but  neither 
understood  in  itself  nor  in  its  application.  A  very  con- 
siderable examination  of  children,  by  myself,  enables 
me  to  say  that  this  statement,  while  not  always,  is 
substantially  correct.  Reading  and  study  require  diges- 
tion and  assimilation,  to  be  a  good  food  for  the  mind. 
Food  for  the  body  requires  digestion  and  assimilation, 
and  it  may  not  be  considered  as  stretching  matters  too 
far  to  draw  some  conclusions  from  the  analogy. 

Food  is  necessary  for  bodily  life  and  activity.  Noth- 
ing can  be  more  clear  than  that  the  quantity  and  quality 
of  food  that  will  be  useful  to  us  has  its  characteristics 
and  usefulness  qualified  and  limited  by  the  time  and 
place,  and  by  the  activities  of  our  lives. 

Climates  and  occupations  govern  the  quantity  and 
quality  of  the  food  that  should  be  taken.  Every  ounce 
of  food  used  that  is  not  required  is  a  clog,  and  besides, 
necessitates  the  subtraction  of  a  certain  amount  of 
energy  from  other  things  to  get  rid  of  it. 

So,  also,  the  time  of  life  governs  the  quality  and  quan- 
tity of  food  that  should  be  eaten.  For  the  infant  an 
exclusive  diet  of  milk  is  the  only  appropriate  food,  for 
in  the  infant  many  of  the  vital  organs  are  rudimentary. 
For  the  grown  man  stronger  and  more  concentrated  foods 
are  requisite.  The  strong  food  of  the  man  would  kill 
the  baby,  the  exclusive  milk  diet  of  the  baby  would 
incapacitate  the  man.  A  hungry  man  requiring  food,  it 
is  certain,  should  take  only  what  he  needs  ;  if  he  were 
placed  in  a  coop  and  stuffed  like  the  goose  of  Strasburg, 


EDUCATION.  II 

disease  would  inevitably  ensue.  As  the  liver  of  the  goose 
becomes  by  such  treatment  diseased,  so  would  the  liver, 
and,  secondarily,  the  other  organs  of  the  man.  Let  us 
now  draw  the  analogy.  By  the  school  system  of  educa- 
tion now  prevalent,  very  young  children  are  cooped  up, 
and,  to  a  great  extent,  deprived  of  the  natural  exercise 
and  experience  necessary  for  the  proper  development  of 
their  qualities  of  observation  and  of  their  physique. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  mental  food  which  all  children 
require,  is,  in  almost  all  cases,  given  them  in  improper 
quantity  and  quality.  They  are  literally  stuffed  like  the 
goose  of  Strasburg  with  mental  food,  not  only  excessive 
in  quantity,  but  of  that  strong  and  concentrated  kind 
only  suited  to  a  mature  mind. 

As  the  milk  is  suited  to  the  baby  and  the  concentrated 
food  to  the  man,  so  the  simple  forms  of  thought  suited 
to  the  development  of  the  infant  mind  should  be  given 
the  child,  and  the  concentrated  form  suitable  to  the  man 
should  be  given  the  adult. 

The  education  given  our  children  to-day  is  as  condu- 
cive to  a  mental  indigestion  as  improper  food,  or  exces- 
sive quantities  of  good  food,  would  be  to  the  alimentary 
digestion. 

The  same  analogy  would  hold  good  in  other  things,  as 
locomotion.  The  child,  first  incapable  of  any  locomo- 
tion, learns  to  creep  and  then  to  walk.  If  you  undertake 
to  make  a  baby  walk  before  the  natural  period  has  come 
for  this  progress,  you  will,  in  all  likelihood,  not  only  fail, 
but  spoil  the  youngster's  legs  into  the  bargain.  So  also 


12  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

in  sight  and  touch,  the  baby  sees  without  seeing,  and 
touches  without  comprehension.  An  attempt  to  drive 
nature  in  any  of  these  matters  is  always  dangerous,  and 
generally  of  doubtful  result. 

A  large  amount  of  the  information  given  at  our  schools 
is  not  understood  by  the  children,  and  is  therefore 
impossible  of  application,  and  is  consequently,  for  the 
most  part,  entirely  forgotten  when  they  go  out  into  life. 

An  excessive  amount  of  the  child's  time  is  undoubtedly 
now  taken  up  by  our  schools. 

In  England,  and  especially  in  Manchester,  it  has  been 
found  that  the  half-time  scholars,  who  had  also  to  work 
for  their  living,  surpassed  in  school  attainments  those 
children  whose  entire  time  was  devoted  to  study. 

This  is  a  clear  illustration  of  the  fault.  No  child 
should  go  to  school  before  the  age  of  nine.  Four  hours 
is  the  limit  to  set  for  the  hours  of  book  study  before 
twelve.  No  night  study  should  be  permitted  until  after 
fifteen. 

The  infant  mind  before  nine,  it  is  true,  is  capable  of 
a  wonderful  amount  of  literary  memorizing  power,  but 
this  apparent  knowledge  is  largely  of  the  same  kind  as 
seen  in  the  trick  dog,  talking  parrot,  trained  horse,  etc. 
The  mental  powers  of  the  reasoning  man  are  not  in  the 
child,  consequently  no  true  cultivation  of  them  before 
they  exist  is  possible. 

Children  who  commence  their  schooling  late,  within 
certain  reasonable  limits,  as  a  rule,  rapidly  pass  children 
that  have  been  through  previous  premature  training.  It 


EDUCATION.  13 

is  then  apparent  that  too  early  schooling  not  only  does 
no  good,  but  is  a  positive  disadvantage. 

If  the  position  of  the  evolutionist  be  true,  that  the 
young  of  all  animals  originate  from  the  egg  and  pass 
through  previous  conditions  of  life,  from  the  most  primi- 
tive forms  to  their  present  state  of  development,  we  can 
easily  perceive  the  uselessness  and  impolicy  of  teaching 
letters  to  a  suckling  baby  in  a  purely  animal  condition,  or 
philosophy  to  a  child  passing  through  the  undeveloped 
mental  condition  of  the  savage. 

To  the  babe,  eating,  drinking,  digestion,  and  sleep  are 
the  lines  of  usefulness  and  success  ;  to  the  savage 
largely  and  to  the  child  entirely,  physical  develop- 
ment and  the  observation  of  nature  comprise  these 
conditions.  It  is  only  as  the  human  being  of  the 
higher  development  passes  out  of  these  steps  in  a  past 
life,  that  the  supreme  attainments  of  humanity  can  be 
understood. 

To  undertake  the  teaching  of  things  beyond  the 
stage  of  development  in  which  the  human  being  affected 
is  at  the  time  is  useless  in  itself,  and  abstracts  force 
from  the  evolution  of  that  stage  absolutely  necessary  to 
be  gone  through  with. 

The  methods  of  schooling  have  improved  very  greatly, 
but  they  have  not  improved  with  the  same  rapidity  that 
the  schools  have  absorbed  the  time  and  energy  of  the 
children,  and  have  taken  these  essential  elements  so  that 
the  child's  opportunity  to  obtain  the  information  all 
anirnals  require  by  experience  is  taken  away. 


14  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

The  greatest  caution  that  a  parent  or  guardian  can 
exercise,  in  giving  a  child  an  even  and  well-balanced  de- 
velopment, can  never  be  excessive.  Not  that  a  parent 
should  take  the  position  of  interfering  every  instant  with 
the  child's  natural,  mental,  and  physical  development, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  these  should  be  given  the  widest 
liberty. 

What  parents  should  be  cautioned  against  is  the  un- 
due interference  with  these  natural  processes,  for  the 
sake  of  the  acquirement  of  knowledge  by  the  artificial 
means  which  are  a  part  of  our  present  system.  It  must 
not  be  overlooked  that  these  artificial  processes  are  of 
great  benefit  and  aid  to  the  child  ;  but  they  should  be 
so  carefully  guarded  as  to  secure  the  child  against 
injury  of  its  physique,  a  thing  not  very  difficult  to  watch 
and  guard  if  its  importance  be  appreciated,  but  also 
what  is  far  more  difficult  to  recognize,  the  healthy  de- 
velopment of  the  essential  mental  qualities  of  observa- 
tion, self-reliance,  and  those  other  qualities  which,  taken 
together,  form  the  individuality  and  the  character  of  a 
human  being  essential  to  a  useful  existence. 

The  kindergarten  system  has  had  a  great  popularity 
in  recent  years.  Its  advantages  are  great  when  properly 
employed,  its  principles  good,  and  its  drawbacks  con- 
siderable. This  is,  indeed,  an  unsatisfactory  ending  for 
a  system  that  has  been  received  with  so  much  hope  by 
the  lovers  of  mankind.  It  is  now  pretty  clear  that  the 
kindergarten  is  but  a  poor  substitute  for  the  home 
nursery,  and  is  most  useful  to  the  children  of  the  poor, 


EDUCATION.  15 

whose  mothers  work  out  or  are  dead,  or  otherwise  in- 
capable of  caring  for  them. 

The  very  young  child  is  better  and  stronger,  mentally 
as  well  as  physically,  in  the  country,  roaming  and  play- 
ing wild  and  unkempt,  than  in  the  best  kindergarten 
ever  established  ;  but  older  ones  may  be  much  benefited 
by  it. 

It  is  probable  that  no  school  system  can  ever  take  the 
.place  of  nature  as  a  teacher.  In  the  early  years  of  life 
little  book  information  that  is  ever  used  is  obtained. 
Compared  to  the  time  devoted  by  children  to  schooling, 
the  information  assimilated  is  almost  nothing.  The 
healthy  child,  mentally  and  physically  well  balanced, 
will  learn  more  in  one  year  at  the  age  of  fifteen  of  the 
common-school  education,  and  understand  its  applica- 
tions better,  than  in  the  ten  years  before  this  time.  While 
this  is  generally  known  to  be  true  of  most  children,  the 
question  arises  as  to  how  much  a  previous  course  of 
training  may  assist  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  at  the 
really  receptive  period  of  the  child  for  book  information. 

The  close  confinement  of  the  school-room,  the  seden- 
tary life,  and  the  absorption  of  the  energies  from  other 
lines  of  development  must  be  injurious.  Children  vary 
greatly  in  the  times  and  quality  of  their  development, 
and  it  is  for  the  parent  to  watch  this  in  each  child  care- 
fully, and  suit  the  class  of  information  given  to  the  un- 
folding powers.  Taking  everything  into  consideration, 
it  would  seem  wiser  to  err  on  the  side  of  sending  the 
child  to  school  too  late  rather  than  too  early. 


1 6  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

The  early  and  continuous  school  attendance  of 
children  undermines  and  weakens  the  home  influence 
and  the  family  tie.  The  parents  rely  more  and  more  on 
the  school  for  complete  instruction  and  education,  and 
more  and  more  neglect  home  and  family  influence.  The 
schools  are  without  religion,  and  there  seems  no  way  to 
introduce  it  in  any  form.  The  absorption  by  them  of 
time  and  energy,  and  the  reverence  in  which  the  system 
is  largely  held,  as  a  matter  of  fact  exclude  any  living 
religious  force  from  the  lives  of  the  great  majority  of 
school  children.  As  a  consequence  we  are  drifting  faster 
than  we  know  into  a  nation  without  a  religion. 

Habits  of  application  and  industry  should  by  all 
means  be  imparted  to  a  child.  The  natural  curiosity 
and  desire  for  knowledge  is  great  in  every  child.  Let 
these  qualities  be  improved  and  rewarded. 

Nothing  is  perhaps  so  generally  overlooked  as  the  fact 
that  a  child  appreciates  reward  in  return  for  its  labor 
as  much  as,  if  not  more  than,  a  grown  person.  Their 
sense  of  injustice  is  keen,  their  appreciation  of  the 
family  relation  and  the  labor  of  the  parent  to  give  them 
a  living,  imperfect ;  that  is,  they  take  for  granted  the 
living  that  the  parent  gives  them,  and  seldom  feel  per- 
fectly satisfied  in  performing  labor,  whether  mental  or 
physical,  not  directly  rewarded  in  them  as  it  is  in  others. 

Parents  who  desire  to  see  their  children  industrious, 
mentally  or  physically,  should  not  disguise  from  them- 
selves this  fact.  A  motive  for  work  and  labor  should 
always  be  given. 


EDUCATION.  I/ 

Habits  of  industry  can  almost  always  be  imparted  to 
children  if  they  receive  a  compensation  which  they  can 
understand.  In  imparting  mental  information,  a  clear 
and  proximate  reason  for  its  acquisition  should  be  given, 
utilizing  as  far  as  practicable  the  natural  curiosity  of  the 
child.  Build  from  one  thing  to  another,  show  relation- 
ships and  connections,  bearing  ever  in  mind  the  condition 
and  limitations  of  the  child's  brain. 

Education  in  the  broadest  view  commences  at  birth 
and  only  ends  with  death.  Consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously we  are  always  receiving  impressions  which  are 
information  ;  these  may  be  applied  or  unapplied, — they 
may  be  used  for  good  or  for  evil.  The  schooling  or  the 
ordinary  processes  to  which  the  word  education  is  com- 
monly applied  is,  as  has  been  said,  merely  the  tool  for  a 
more  facile  appreciation  of  facts  and  their  proper 
application,  as  these  come  to  us  through  our  experience. 
The  truth  must  never  be  lost  sight  of  that  the  only  real 
knowledge  is  obtained  by  experience — the  only  applica- 
tion of  knowledge  comes  through  practice. 

Work  and  labor  is  the  price  we  must  pay  for  every- 
thing we  do  well.  Mere  parrot-like  repetition  of  the 
experience  of  others  is  not  knowledge.  The  school-boy 
acquires  proficiency  in  his  games  only  by  attention, 
application,  and  labor. 

A  successful  player  of  games  is  devoting  as  much  time 
and  energy  to  the  game  in  which  he  succeeds,  as  the 
mechanic  or  book  student  to  his  line  of  work.  Only  by 
thought  and  effort  can  success  be  accomplished. 


1 8  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

Life  is  labor.  From  the  gambler  at  his  cards  and  the 
young  man  at  his  tennis,  to  the  successful  farmer,  mer- 
chant, or  statesman,  all  derive  what  proficiency  they  may 
have  by  experience,  attention,  and  hard  work. 

The  thing  to  do  with  a  young  person  is  to  direct  the 
energies  into  those  channels  which  will  produce  good 
and  useful  results,  and  to  teach  them  that  the  hardest 
work,  and  the  most  unremunerative  devotion  of  energy, 
is  always  given  to  a  dissolute  life  and  occupation  inimi- 
cal to  the  interests  of  themselves  and  of  society, — 
inimical  to  their  own  interests  because  such  occupa- 
tions are  invariably  wearing  upon  the  constitution  and 
vitality,  dwarfing  to  the  better  qualities  of  the  mind, 
destructive  to  the  physique,  and  condemned  by  one's 
fellow-men. 

A  proper  understanding  by  a  young  person  of  the  true 
object  of  life,  of  the  reasonableness  of  the  general  rules 
of  society,  the  foundation  of  its  prejudices  in  the  accu- 
mulated experiences  of  mankind,  and  the  relation  of 
effort  to  result,  ought,  if  properly  inculcated,  to  prevent 
any  normally  constituted  child  from  devoting  its  energies 
to  useless  or  injurious  effort. 

Some  of  the  points  elucidating  this  position  will  be 
presented  in  other  chapters.  In  this  will  be  given  only 
an  outline  of  what  seems  to  be  the  proper  course  to 
pursue  as  to  the  three  great  essentials  already  named, 
and  to  the  book-learning  beneficial  as  an  aid  in  acquiring 
them,  and  in  giving  the  agreeable  polish  and  finish  to 
the  life  of  a  thorough-bred. 


EDUCATION.  IQ 

PHYSIQUE. 

A  sound  body  gives  a  sound  mind.  The  physique  is 
the  first  thing  to  be  considered  in  a  child  after  it  is  born, 
and  it  is  a  thing  absolutely  necessary  to  maintain  in  a 
good  condition  throughout  life. 

Irritable  tempers,  visionary  ideas,  immoral  thoughts 
and  acts  are  largely  the  result  of  diseased  or  of  imper- 
fectly developed  bodies.  Those  whose  physical  health 
is  sound  are  usually  sound  in  their  minds  and  morals. 

A  person  to  be  healthy  must  have  a  well-developed 
physique, — each  organ  performing  its  proper  function. 

To  secure  this  result  the  muscles  must  be  exercised. 
Without  physical  exercise,  which  is  labor,  the  vital 
organs  will  not  properly  perform  their  duties.  Exercise 
may  be  of  two  kinds.  One  is  that  which  is  devoted  to 
recreation,  as  in  games,  hunting,  or  athletic  sports,  etc.  ; 
the  other,  that  which  is  devoted  to  directly  remunerative 
employments,  such  as  agricultural  work,  or  that  in  any 
of  the  mechanical  or  useful  occupations.  Both  of  these 
are  beneficial  as  well  to  the  body  as  to  the  mind.  Those 
who  do  not  have  sufficient  bodily  exercise  in  one  of 
these  two  ways,  lose  in  the  tone  and  quality  not  only  of 
their  bodies  but  of  their  minds  also. 

Indigestion,  the  most  prompt  and  easily  recognized 
result  of  lack  of  physical  exercise,  is  always  accompanied 
by  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  discomfort  and  unhappiness, 
and  acts  unfavorably,  as  well  on  those  who  are  its  victims, 
as  upon  those  who  come  in  contact  with  them. 


20  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

Thus  the  great  happiness  naturally  the  outcome  of 
family  life  is  diminished,  and  sometimes  altogether  un- 
done. Good  digestion,  good  health — these  are  essentials 
in  happiness. 

Look  through  your  acquaintances  and  remark  how 
often  the  starting-point  of  quarrels,  misunderstandings, 
nagging,  irritation,  and  unkind  feelings  arises  from  imper- 
fect digestion,  imperfect  bodily  development,  or  a  bodily 
disease  coming  from  a  lack  of  the  proper  use  of  the 
physical  powers. 

The  physique  is  the  first  thing  to  be  considered.  It  is 
the  first  thing  that  we  can  consider  in  the  child  when 
born.  When  properly  developed,  it  leads  to  a  healthy 
mental  and  moral  condition,  and  enables  its  happy  pos- 
sessor to  use  with  the  greatest  benefit  any  mental 
acquirements. 

Before  the  age  of  sixteen,  at  least  one-half  of  the  day 
should  be  devoted  to  out-door  exercises.  The  treatment 
of  boys  and  girls  in  regard  to  physical  development  must, 
from  the  limitations  placed  by  nature  on  the  female  sex, 
be  entirely  different. 

BOYS. 

The  exercise  given  by  games  is  a  thing  boys  should 
never  be  deprived  of.  The  amusement,  interest,  and 
emulation  produced  by  games  lead  to  voluntary  use  of 
the  muscles.  Games  where  only  one  or  two  are  engaged 
upon  a  side,  or  in  which  no  combination  is  required, 


EDUCATION.  21 

such  as  bowling,  tennis,  fencing,  boxing,  etc.,  are  very 
good.  Tennis  is  perhaps  of  all  games  the  one  which 
gives  the  most  complete  exercise  to  all  the  muscles,  with 
the  least  strain,  of  any  that  we  have.  But  one  of  its 
great  advantages,  that  is,  that  it  requires  only  two  to  play 
the  game,  is  also  a  great  drawback  to  it  as  an  educator. 
Games  requiring  combination,  discipline,  and  unity  of 
action  demonstrate  in  a  reasonable  way  to  a  child  the 
great  value  of  these  in  life. 

The  discipline  that  is  so  often  only  produced  in  the 
schoolroom,  and,  unfortunately,  only  too  often  in  the 
family  by  the  fiat  of  the  master  or  the  parent,  is  secured 
in  such  games  as  base-ball,  foot-ball,  cricket,  etc.,  by  its 
evident  utility  for  a  successful  issue.  Thus,  we  often 
see  the  boy  who  in  the  school-room  is  a  revolutionist  or 
a  rebel,  the  most  prompt  in  obeying  the  orders  of  his 
captain  in  a  game,  in  carrying  out  his  own  duties  in  that 
game,  and  maintaining  discipline  amongst  the  others 
engaged  in  it. 

It  must  be  evident  that  the  frequent  difficulty  school- 
masters find  in  maintaining  the  discipline  in  their  school- 
rooms, as  compared  with  the  facility  with  which  the 
game  captains  maintain  the  discipline  of  their  games, 
with  the  same  boys,  is  worthy  of  attention. 

The  discipline  of  a  game  offers  a  lesson  most  valuable 
for  the  boy  to  learn.  It  requires  him  to  develop  his  indi- 
viduality in  harmony  with  his  surroundings,  to  govern 
his  temper,  and  to  specialize  his  energies  in  common 
with  those  of  others  to  achieve  a  well-defined  end.  These 


22  TASK'S  BY    TWILIGHT. 

qualities  are  exceedingly  valuable  in  after  life,  far  more 
so  than  we  commonly  realize. 

The  development  of  character,  of  self-discipline,  and 
of  organization  given  by  well-ordered  games,  together  with 
the  physical  development,  the  health  and  the  constitu- 
tion, which  they  give  or  maintain,  is  more  valuable  than 
all  the  other  results  produced  in  the  school  put  together. 

The  playground  is  now  one  of  the  first  things  sacri- 
ficed in  our  ever-increasing  population  and  the  con- 
sequent increased  value  of  land.  There  are  probably 
not  a  dozen  schools  of  the  thousands  situated  in  our 
cities  and  towns  that  have  an  adequate  playground.  The 
denser  the  population  and  the  less  outside  opportunity 
for  play  and  its  organization,  discipline,  and  exercise, 
the  more  certain  are  we  to  find  the  playground  too  small 
or  absent. 

Parents  should  give  more  than  usual  attention  to  se- 
cure to  their  boys  the  benefits  of  these  games,  and  thus 
counteract  the  tendencies  of  the  times.  By  all  means 
have  your  boys  play  games.  I  have  observed  in  the 
French  schools,  where  games  requiring  combination  are 
seldom  played,  a  distinct  physical  and  moral  deteriora- 
tion in  the  boys. 

The  energy  of  the  boy,  which  under  the  Anglo-Saxon 
system  of  having  these  games  goes  so  largely  to  promote 
his  physical  welfare  and  to  promote  those  other  useful 
qualities  spoken  of,  goes  in  the  French  boy  to  an  ab- 
normal and  precocious  development  of  the  sexual  instinct. 

These  instincts,  so  grand,  so  magnificent,  and  so  God- 


EDUCATION.  23 

like  in  their  proper  use,  making  of  us  creators,  giving 
sound  health  and  giving  a  happiness  which  can  be  in  no 
other  way  attained,  in  their  abuse  destroy  the  physique, 
weaken  the  mind,  undermine  morality,  and  promote  that 
greatest  curse  that  can  befall  a  family — sterility  and 
extinction. 

Of  the  exercises  requiring  no  combination  of  persons, 
boxing  is  perhaps  one  of  the  best.  In  this  the  physi 
powers  are  generally  used,  and  in  young  persons  with 
small  danger  of  strain,  while  at  the  same  time  the  temper 
is  well  disciplined  (for  in  boxing  a  display  of  temper  is  a 
weakness)  and  the  animal  courage  must  be  developed. 
One  of  its  disadvantages  is  that  its  ethics  demand  that 
only  one  kind  of  blows  should  be  struck,  whereas  in 
real  physical  contests,  such  as  might  occur  in  being  at- 
tacked by  a  footpad,  all  blows  leading  to  conquest  should 
be  used  without  any  reference  to  whether  they  are  fair 
or  foul. 

With  the  trained  boxer,  boxing  ethics  will  be  an  instinct 
and  he  will  be  unable  to  strike  any  but  the  regulation 
blows. 

Many  persons  think  boxing  brutal ;  in  practice,  how- 
ever, it  has  proved  a  safe  outlet  for  the  passions  and 
rivalries  common  with  all  healthy  boys.  For  the  human 
being,  it  must  be  remembered,  commences  in  the  infant 
with  the  purely  animal  instincts  of  eating,  digestion,  and 
sleep,  and  goes  on  from  the  purely  animal  through  the 
lower  stages  of  human  society — as  shown  in  the  savage 
and  barbarian — up  to  the  fully  developed  civilized  man. 


24  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

The  egg  from  which  all  life  comes  is  the  commence- 
ment of  the  human  being.  All  life  commencing  with  this 
goes  through  the  stages  of  previous  development.  Many 
of  these  stages  in  the  human  being  are  gone  through  in 
the  foetus  :  such  as  the  rudimentary  gills  which  the  foetus 
at  one  time  has,  then  a  condition  similar  to  the  lower 
mammalia,  then  a  hairy  one  similar  to  the  monkey,  and 
so  on  to  birth,  and  afterward  till  the  age  of  25  or  30,  when 
the  highest  qualities  of  civilized  man  are  or  ought  to  be 
perfected.  The  savage  stage  is  a  clearly  denned  one  in 
every  boy's  life  and  should  be  recognized  and  provided  for. 

Boxing  gives  a  safe  outlet  which,  amongst  the  Latin 
races  and  other  peoples  not  having  it  or  a  safe  substitute, 
is  taken  by  the  knife,  the  pistol,  or  other  deadly  weapons. 
The  effects  of  the  use  of  the  hands  instead  of  the  use  of 
deadly  weapons  for  satisfying  the  personal  contests  that 
occur  universally  amongst  boys,  are  shown  in  the  after 
history  of  these  as  men. 

Boys  and  formed  communities  brought  up  in  the 
Anglo-Saxon  method  are  seldom  found  carrying  deadly 
weapons,  and  still  more  seldom  found  using  them  ;  where- 
as amongst  the  Latin  races,  which  have  no  such  system, 
the  knife  is  commonly  carried  and  very  frequently  used. 
And  besides,  the  practice  of  openly  facing  an  enemy  not 
haying  been  inculcated,  these  people  with  no  natural  de- 
fects of  courage  generally  use  their  deadly  weapons  from 
an  ambush  and  stab  in  the  back.  Thus  courage  is  culti- 
vated in  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  dwarfed  in  the  Latin  race  ; 
the  result  being  that,  man  for  man,  in  all  the  numerous 


EDUCATION.  25 

contests  these  races  have  had  either  between  each  other 
or  with  nature,  the  Anglo-Saxon  has  proved  the  best 
fighter  and  the  best  pioneer.  It  is  a  pity  that  our  Ameri- 
can boys  in  cities  are  so  often  brought  up  in  the  Latin 
system. 

Scarcely  too  much  can  be  said  to  inculcate  the  value  of 
games,  not  alone  from  a  physical  point  of  view  but  espe- 
cially as  tending  to  the  strengthening  of  the  morals.  No 
games  or  physical  exercises  can  be  well  carried  on  by 
those  who  are  the  victims  of  vice.  Over-eating,  improper 
diet,  indulgence  in  narcotics  or  stimulants,  abuse  of  the 
reproductive  organs,  any  and  all,  immediately  show  them- 
selves in  reduced  physical  capacity.  The  successful 
athlete  must  be  a  virtuous  man  and  lead  a  well-ordered 
life.  Thus  the  need  of  morality  is  seen  as  a  means  of 
success. 

The  system  of  recording  athletic  performances,  of 
timing  one's  self  in  races,  in  measuring  jumps,  the  put- 
ting of  the  shot,  the  number  of  times  the  bull's-eye  is  hit 
by  rifle  shooters,  etc.,  all  force  upon  the  attention  of  the 
practising  contestant  the  injurious  result  of  any  excess, 
of  any  abuse  of  the  body,  or  of  any  mistake  in  living. 

The  prize-fighter  who  uses  alcohol  must,  when  he  is 
about  to  undertake  a  contest,  reform  and  eschew  it  alto- 
gether for  a  considerable  time  and  go  into  what  is  called 
training.  The  hours  of  sleep  are  plentiful,  the  exercise 
continuous,  the  diet  plain  and  easily  assimilated.  The 
body  is  cared  for,  the  nerves  are  cared  for,  and  so  is 
morality  cared  for  in  more  ways  than  one. 


26  TASA'S  BY    TWILIGHT. 

It  is  very  important  to  show  children  the  value  of 
training  in  their  sports.  By  training  is  meant  practice, 
hard  work,  and  attention  to  all  things  that  affect  the 
body,  such  as  diet,  sleep,  cleanliness,  health,  and  a  virtu- 
ous life. 

When  the  boy  sees  the  beneficial  effect  of  these,  in 
beating  his  competitors  in  the  sports  in  which  he  may  be 
interested,  it  will  be  well  to  point  out  with  forcibleness 
that  the  same  attention  to  these  matters,  directed  to  his 
pursuits  in  later  life,  will  prove  alike  successful  and 
enable  him  to  triumph  over  those  naturally  his  superiors. 

Galton,  one  of  the  best  English  investigators  and 
philosophers  of  our  time,  says  that  the  population  of  the 
Greek  cities  during  their  palmy  days  had  a  much  higher 
intellectual  average  than  that  of  any  civilized  people  now. 

The  artistic,  architectural,  and  intellectual  works  that 
this  comparatively  small  population  left  show  that  they 
must  have  had  indeed  a  very  high  development. 

When  we  examine  their  institutions,  we  find  that  their 
education  was  all  done  out-of-doors. 

The  word  academy,  which  we  have  taken  from  the 
Greek  to  mean  an  educational  institution,  signifies  a 
grove,  and  has  come  to  have  its  other  meaning,  because 
the  Greek  philosophers  taught  in  groves.  Their  educa- 
tion, too,  was  little,  if  at  all,  in  the  line  of  parrot-like 
memorizing  ;  for  the  old  philosophers  acted  more  as 
guides  in  developing  the  intellects  and  reasoning  powers 
of  their  disciples. 

We  find,  also,  that  the  athletic  sports  had  an  immense 


EDUCATION.  27 

development  in  Greece.  The  names  of  many  of  the 
champions  of  the  Olympian  games  are  familiar  to  us  to 
this  day.  The  importance  attached  to  physical  exercise 
was  great  in  Greece,  and  the  young  men  exercised  more 
or  less  in  the  national  games.  Hand  and  hand  with  the 
physical  development  went  the  intellectual.  The  Greek 
statues  that  we  have  show  the  physical  perfection  to 
which  that  race  must  have  arrived  when  these  were  made. 

The  works  of  Homer,  Plato,  Socrates,  Euclid,  Aris- 
totle, and  many  others  indicate  their  intellectual  develop- 
ment. The  history  of  the  Greek  people  shows  beyond 
any  controversy  that  physical  development  is  no  bar  to 
that  of  intellect.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  every  reason 
to  think  that  the  physical  and  vital  power  of  the  race, 
created  by  athletic  sports,  was  a  prominent  cause  of  its 
intellectual  achievements.  The  rock  on  which  the  Greek 
people  split  was  doubtless  the  weakening  of  the  family  tie 
and  the  non-reproduction  of  the  superior  class,  owing  to 
the  accumulated  wealth  and  the  lack  of  impressing  the 
importance  of  reproduction  on  the  young  people. 

It  takes  a  very  short  time  for  a  family  or  a  race  to 
disappear  from  the  world,  when  they  do  not  reproduce 
themselves.  The  Roman  Conquest  accentuated  these 
causes,  and  the  old  Greek  intellectual  race  has  disap- 
peared from  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  left  no  trace  in  a 
living  people  behind  it. 

But  this  should  not  prevent  us  from  taking  advantage 
of  what  was  good  in  their  civilization,  while  avoiding  that 
which  was  bad.  The  Greek  civilization  teaches  us  the 


28  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

great  benefit  of  bodily  exercise  in  perfecting  physical 
and  intellectual  beauty. 

Have  your  boys  play  games  and  take  an  interest  in  all 
athletic  sports.  Another  advantage  which  can  be  taught 
them  by  this  means  is  that  of  devoting  their  energies  and 
attention  to  one  particular  game  or  exercise. 

The  value  of  concentration  is  as  great  in  these  physi- 
cal exercises  as  it  is  in  anything  in  after  life,  and  this 
fact  should  be  taught.  No  exercise  should  be  encour- 
aged, however,  which  does  not  develop  the  body  evenly. 
Such  exercises  therefore  as  bowling,  bicycling,  etc., 
which  develop  only  portions  of  the  body,  often  at  the 
expense  of  others,  are  inferior. 

The  individual  taste  of  a  boy  should,  with  these  excep- 
tions, be  given  full  play.  There  is  one  exercise,  however, 
that  all  boys  should  be  taught,  and  that  is  swimming. 
There  are  so  many  occasions  when  a  boy's  life  may  be 
saved  by  this  art,  that  it  should  by  no  means  be  neglected. 

Horseback  exercise  should  also  be  taught  whenever 
the  parents'  means  permit.  For  this  exercise  develops 
courage,  the  faculties  of  command,  and  the  necessity  of 
a  good  condition  of  the  animal  used.  To  develop  this 
latter  point,  the  boy  should  take  care  of  his  own  horse, 
for  at  least  a  certain  time,  until  he  is  thoroughly  familiar 
with  what  ought  to  be  done  to  keep  it  in  good  condition. 

MANUAL  LABOR. 

While  games  and  athletic  sports  should  never  be 
neglected  and  should  even  be  encouraged  into  mature 


EDUCATION.  29 

life,  physical  labor  of  a  different  kind  is  equally  im- 
portant. 

At  a  very  early  age  children  should  be  given  an  oppor- 
tunity of  earning  money  by  the  labor  of  their  hands. 
Work  about  the  garden,  in  the  orchard,  or  on  the  farm,  or 
in  any  out-door  pursuit  that  may  be  convenient,  will  prove 
of  the  greatest  advantage. 

Without  the  reward  it  will  be  seldom  found  that  a 
young  person  will  take  much  interest  in  manual  labor. 
On  the  contrary,  some  little  remuneration  will  lead  them 
to  acquire  the  useful  habit  of  bending  their  efforts  to 
result.  One  of  the  best  means  of  doing  this  is  to  set 
aside  for  them  a  little  garden  patch  and  pay  them  for  the 
products  ;  or  a  few  chickens,  paying  for  the  eggs  or 
poultry  ;  a  pig  or  two,  or,  if  there  be  sufficient  cattle  on  the 
farm,  give  them  a  cow  or  two  and  allow  them  to  manage 
the  breeding  as  well  as  the  general  care  of  the  animals. 

For  the  girls,  poultry,  pigeons,  or  a  plot  of  roses  and 
flowers,  paying  for  the  eggs,  the  roses,  or  flowers,  is  a 
good  method. 

In  some  such  way  as  this,  the  child  will  cultivate  habits 
of  industry,  thought,  self-reliance,  and  independence, 
and  these  should  be  handed  down  from  father  to  son 
and  from  generation  to  generation. 

Recompense  your  children  for  their  labor,  as  far  as  is 
possible ;  for  the  work  they  do  and  the  result  they  achieve. 
If  you  pay  a  boy  by  the  day  for  killing  rats  or  gophers, 
for  gardening,  or  for  attention  to  the  farm,  or  pay  him  for 
the  number  of  rats  or  gophers  he  kills,  the  milk  he  gets 


30  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

from  his  cows,  the  eggs  from  his  chickens,  the  fruit  from 
his  orchard,  or  the  vegetables  from  his  garden,  the  differ- 
ence in  result  will  be  great  and  astonishing.  The  differ- 
ence in  the  material  results  achieved  is  but  a  faint 
indication  of  the  difference  of  results  upon  the  character 
of  your  child.  Habits  of  industry  and  the  practical 
business  view  of  life-effort  which  he  acquires  is  incalcu- 
lably greater  than  by  any  mere  machine  or  routine 
drudgery. 

What  is  drudgery  in  one  case  is  an  occupation — nay, 
a  pastime  in  the  other.  With  all  of  this  the  out-door 
work  maintains  and  develops  the  physique,  the  vitality, 
and  the  morality  of  the  child. 

Boys  should  be  given  at  first,  as  far  as  possible,  famili- 
arity with  an  out-door  occupation.  The  circumstances 
and  location  of  the  family  and  the  natural  bent  of  the 
child  should  be  given  due  consideration  in  selecting  the 
occupation  to  be  taught. 

The  child  should  in  every  case  commence  at  the 
bottom  or  alphabet  of  the  occupation,  with  the  distinct 
object  ever  held  in  view  of  obtaining  a  scientific  and 
skilful  grasp  of  the  whole,  and  of  attaining  by  capacity 
and  work  its  highest  rewards. 

There  is  no  labor  or  effort  in  the  world  but  what  will 
make  a  man  reputed  and  even  great  when  thoroughly, 
skilfully,  and  well  done.  Even  the  slightest,  most 
menial,  or  most  primitive  work  attached  to  any  occupa- 
tion may  be  so  well  done  as  to  give  honor  both  to  the 
work  itself  and  to  the  worker. 


EDUCATION.  31 

The  occupation  which  more  than  any  other  seems  to 
have  resulted  in  developing  the  individuality  and  great- 
ness of  a  country  is  agriculture.  The  ultimate  and  con- 
tinual contact  with  the  grandest  operations  of  nature, 
given  by  agriculture,  may  be  well  understood  as  having 
produced  this  result. 

The  agriculturist  is  a  continual  witness  of  the  evolu- 
tion of  nature.  He  sees  the  most  brilliant  flowers 
blossom  from  the  fetid  manure.  From  death  springs 
life.  The  great  processes  of  germination,  of  birth  of 
plants  and  animals,  are  continually  before  him.  The 
value  of  proper  seeds  and  proper  breeds  is  continually  a 
guide  to  the  proper  employment  of  his  own  reproductive 
powers.  The  laws  of  nature  directly  correct  his  errors 
of  judgment  or  practice.  Ever  with  nature,  he  is  ever 
with  truth,  and  from  truth  comes  greatness.  It  is  prob- 
ably from  these  causes  that  not  only  the  ranks  of  the 
great  but  the  whole  population  of  the  world  are  ever 
recruited  from  the  agricultural  classes. 

If  the  beauty  and  wonders  of  natural  processes  be 
pointed  out,  as  occurring  on  the  farm,  to  the  boy,  and  his 
labor  be  fairly  remunerated,  and  the  work  called  for  be 
not  excessive,  there  is  no  occupation,  in  my  opinion,  at 
once  so  attractive  and  instructive,  so  beneficial  alike  to 
the  physique,  the  mind,  and  character,  as  that  of  agri- 
culture. 

It  is  essential  that  a  child  should  not  be  allowed  to 
work  excessive  hours,  much  less  forced  to  do  so.  An 
excess  of  drudgery  is  injurious  to  both  body  and  mind, 


32  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

and  kills  originality.  A  due  balance  in  this  regard  should 
be  carefully  struck,  and  it  should  be  remembered  in 
doing  this  that  children's  capacities  and  endurance  vary 
as  much  as  their  faces. 

After  farming,  carpentering  is  perhaps  the  best  occupa- 
tion to  teach.  The  uses  of  a  carpenter's  work  are  mani- 
fold. It  is  a  trade  which  can  be  taught  or  practised 
almost  anywhere.  It  is  an  occupation  full  of  variety,  full 
of  development,  and  therefore  full  of  interest.  A  vast 
amount  of  carpenter  work  can  be  done  alone.  Thus 
originality  and  self-reliance  are  developed.  The  trade 
also  calls  for  combination  in  many  of  its  lines  of  activity, 
which  gives  the  idea  of  the  value  of  organization  in  effort. 

Labor  may  be  so  formal  and  perfunctory  as  to  counter 
progress.  Labor  drudged  off  into  a  mechanical  routine 
tends  to  assimilate  the  faculties  used  to  instinct.  The 
worker  under  such  circumstances  goes  on  not  only  with- 
out thought  or  improvement,  but  may  actually  degenerate. 
Thus  some  kinds  of  work  are  only  good  to  understand  or 
to  have  practice  in,  but  are  not  good  for  regular  employ- 
ment. All  work  full  of  regular  repetition  is  eventually 
dwarfing. 

The  dignity  of  labor — the  fact  that  human  beings  can- 
not be  healthy  or  happy  without  using  their  faculties — 
which  means  work,  either  unproductive  as  in  games,  or 
productive  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  labor,  should  be 
continuously  impressed  on  children  from  their  earliest 
receptive  period. 

To  secure  an  appreciation  an.d  liking  for  work,  it  is 


EDUCATION.  33 

absolutely  essential  to  give  the  person  working   a   fair 
proportion  of  the  returns  of  his  labor. 

People  can  be  made  to  work  without  this,  but  can 
never  be  made  to  understand  the  dignity  and  the  neces- 
sity of  labor  without  it.  Health  and  happiness  are  inex- 
tricably interwoven  with  and  have  their  life  in  occupation. 
The  development  of  our  physique  and  of  our  minds  can 
only  come  by  using  them.  The  non-use  of  our  muscles 
or  our  faculties  will  surely  result  in  diminished  power. 
If  a  man  break  his  arm,  it  is  placed  in  a  sling  till  the 
bone  knit  again  ;  meantime  the  muscles  remain  unused  ; 
these  commence  and  continue  to  atrophy  and  wither  and 
weaken  while  unused  ;  if  the  non-use  be  kept  up  too  long 
the  original  power  will  never  return.  It  has  not  been 
clearly  demonstrated  that  a  similar  result  comes  from  the 
non-use  of  our  intellectual  qualities,  but  my  own  personal 
experience  has  proved  to  me  that  a  similar  cause  will 
produce  a  similar  effect  as  well  in  the  brain  as  in  the 
body,  and  I  have  found  in  practice  that  the  leaving  in 
idleness  of  any  faculty  is  at  once  followed  by  rust  and  an 
incapacity  to  its  former  full  use. 

PRACTICE  MAKES  PERFECT. 

This  position  can  be  impressed  on  children  by  showing 
them  that  in  their  every-day  occupations  practice  leads 
to  the  strengthening  and  better  use  of  their  faculties  in 
any  given  direction,  makes  the  labor  even  in  a  game  more 
easy  and  automatic,  and  tends  to  perfection  ;  while  lack 
of  practice  and  lack  of  use  of  the  faculties  increases  the 


34  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

elements  of  uncertainty  and  error,  weakens  the  powers, 
increases  labor,  and  diminishes  results.  These  matters 
can  be  easily  taught  through  the  games  and  occupations 

^ 

of  childhood,  and  should  be  repeatealy  applied  again  and 
again  to  the  independent  and  self-reliant  life  to  which  the 
child  is  eventually  destined. 

Idleness  breeds  laziness.  While  this  depletes  the  body 
and  mind  force,  it  has  only  a  too  well  recognized  ten- 
dency to  cause  an  abnormal  and  premature  development 
of  the  sexual  instincts.  In  those  too  young  to  satisfy 
those  grand  aspirations  legitimately,  it  is  almost  certain 
to  produce  license,  profligacy,  crime,  and  eventually  a 
destruction  of  the  healthy  and  proper  enjoyment  and 
exercise  of  these  grand  and  necessary  functions.  Out- 
door exercise,  out-door  life,  healthy  labor,  and  contact 
with  nature  are  by  all  means  the  best  safeguard  and  correc- 
tive against  this  greatest  misfortune  which  can  befall  an 
individual,  a  family,  or  a  race. 

By  the  proper  development  of  a  physique,  of  habits  of 
industry  and  of  observation,  character  will  come  of  itself. 
But  it  is  well  for  the  parent  to  continually  cultivate  in  a 
child  an  appreciation  of  the  grandeur  of  truth,  of  which 
faithfulness,  honesty,  and  the  performance  of  duty  are 
but  offshoots. 

Direct  punishment  of  a  child  is  scarcely  ever  a  good 
thing.  But  a  child  to  learn  must  be  punished  for  error. 
That  punishment  should  be  made,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
come  from  themselves.  When  they  hurt  themselves  by 
falling,  by  injudicious  acts,  or  by  carelessness,  point  out 


EDUCATION.  35 

to  them  that  their  hurt,  mental  or  physical,  comes  from 
their  own  act,  comes  from  violating  the  inexorable  laws 
of  nature.  The  consequences  of  such  violation  will  be 
visited  on  them  more  and  more  as  they  become  older, 
more  independent,  and  necessarily  more  reliant  on  their 
own  efforts. 

If  these  lessons  be  not  understood  or  be  injudiciously 
avoided,  they  will  surely  come  in  later  life  accompanied 
by  more  serious  injuries  than  they  are  when  learned 
young,  by  bumps,  scratches,  wounded  feelings,  etc.,  for 
minor  offences  against  the  laws  of  nature. 

The  laws  of  man  written  in  reason  or  unwritten,  and 
founded  in  prejudice  and  instinct,  are  only  good  as  long 
as  they  are  in  harmony  with  nature.  But  all  of  these 
should  be  obeyed  and  followed,  unless,  after  careful 
examination,  conscientious  thought,  and  study  and  due 
deliberation,  they  are  found  to  be  not  in  harmony  with 
progressive  nature. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  history  of  mankind  is 
one  of  ups  and  downs,  of  liberty  and  restraint,  swinging 
now  to  one  extreme  and  now  to  another,  but  always  in 
the  main  the  efforts  of  man  have  been  directed  con- 
sciously and  more  often  unconsciously  to  harmonize  his 
race  development  with  nature.  Where  he  has  missed 
his  aim  he  has  erred,  and  if  his  regulations  depart  too  far 
from  natural  law  the  result  is  the  destruction  of  that  line 
of  progress,  almost  always  followed  by  the  destruction  of 
that  part  of  the  race  that  originated  and  practised  such 
error.  So  have  disappeared  Tyrians,  Egyptians,  Car- 


36  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

thaginians,  Greeks,  Romans,  and  innumerable  nations 
and  peoples. 

A  character  founded  on  untruth  or  error  is  of  necessity 
inferior,  and  would  be  desired  by  no  one.  Therefore, 
truth  alone  should  be  taught.  Truth  elevates  the  char- 
acter. A  devotion  to  it  leads  to  an  insight  into  nature, 
which  is  true,  and  this  leads  to  lasting  success  and  to 
greatness.  Error  must  fail ;  truth  must  triumph.  The 
result  is  inevitable  ;  it  is  written  in  the  experience  of 
mankind.  Men  and  even  generations  of  men  have  at 
times  struggled  painfully  with  error,  only  to  fail  and 
disappear  in  the  end. 

Seek  out  truth,  hold  fast  to  it,  teach  it  to  your  children. 
Never  allow  some  apparent  advantage  to  tempt  you  from 
the  path  and  thus  to  take  the  first  step  in  the  downward 
course  to  destruction.  Truth  and  justice  are  eternal ;  as 
you  wish  to  be  eternal,  to  see  your  children  and  your 
children's  children  eternal,  be  steadfast  in  truth. 

He  who  lives  by  truth  must  be  in  the  right.  In  the 
whole  experience  of  mankind  there  has  never  been  any 
other  position  permanently  successful.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  temporary  or  even  permanent  success 
for  one's  self  is  a  comparatively  small  achievement  with- 
out success  for  one's  children  and  descendants.  Man  in 
himself  lives  but  a  span  ;  he  lives  but  to  die.  In  his 
children,  however,  his  vital  spark,  his  qualities,  his  like- 
ness, his  life,  go  on  from  generation  to  generation,  and 
the  presumption  is  reasonable  that  through  a  perfected 
race  he  will  reach  eternity.  To  achieve  this  grand 


EDUCATION.  37 

destiny,  he  must  form  his  life  and  progress  in  harmony 
with  nature's  laws.  In  no  way  can  this  be  done  by  false- 
hood. Truth  alone  is  the  guide  to  eternal  life.  There 
is  no  weapon  of  offence  in  life's  strength,  no  armor  of 
defence,  that  can  compare  to  truth.  Comprehend  the 
truth,  follow  it  in  all  things,  and  be  in  the  right. 

He  so  armed  and  so  defended  is  thrice  armed,  thrice 
fortified. 

Police  executing  the  laws  of  society  often  take  men 
much  their  superior  physically,  to  judgment.  Sometimes 
single-handed  seize  them  from  a  crowd  of  sympathizers. 
As  laws  are  true  and  just,  as  they  harmonize  with  the 
verity  of  nature  and  the  real  interests  of  society,  so  does 
this  power  of  police  increase.  On  the  other  hand,  laws 
departing  from  right,  and  to  the  extent  that  these  so 
depart  from  justice,  their  execution  by  the  police  is 
weakened,  and  when  reduced  to  physical  force  alone  is 
paralyzed. 

The  consciousness  of  right  gives  confidence.  It  gives 
a  nerve  or  moral  force  that  enables  to  a  fuller  use  of 
physical  or  mental  powers  than  any  sophistry  or  error 
can  give. 

Error  is  weakness.  Its  victim's  force  is  always  sapped. 
Error  takes  from  strength,  never  gives  it.  As  the  saying 
goes  :  "  Error  walks  abroad  disguised  ;  were  she  to  appear 
unmasked,  she  would  be  mobbed  in  the  streets." 

Tear  down  the  disguise  from  yourself  and  your  chil- 
dren. Temporary  advantages,  respite  from  judgment,  an 
immediate  money  gain,  may  sometimes  appear  to  be 


38  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

available  through  some  lie,  deception,  or  travesty  of  the 
truth.  Such  cases  are  but  for  the  moment.  They  are 
gained,  if  gained  at  all,  at  a  permanent  sacrifice  of 
character,  self-respect,  and  of  actual  force. 

As  self-respect  is  lost,  so  is  lost  the  power  of  com- 
manding the  respect  of  others.  Honesty  is  undoubtedly 
the  best  policy  for  all  life  success.  It  develops  and 
strengthens  our  best  powers.  It  attracts  and  maintains 
the  confidence  of  those  around  us. 

A  lie  is  hard  to  kill.  It  continually  comes  back  to 
-plague  us.  Nearly  all  deception  leads  to  further  decep- 
tion. One  lie  breeds  another.  To  get  out  of  one 
awkward  situation  by  falsehood  is  to  create  many  other 
situations  which  in  the  end  demand  the  truth.  A  lie 
means  uneasiness,  much  work,  much  trouble,  and,  as  a 
rule,  the  truth  must  be  brought  in  to  make  things  go 
right  in  the  end.  Thus  the  labor  and  pain  of  lying  are 
naught. 

The  most  important  reason  for  avoiding  untruth  is  the 
inevitable  weakening  and  injury  to  the  character  of  him 
who  lies.  It  is  not  alone  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
those  around  you  that  is  involved,  but  your  own  proper 
respect  and  confidence  in  yourself.  A  liar  throws  away 
the  keystone  of  all  success — self-confidence. 

Be  most  careful  in  this.  Teach  truth.  Give  your 
children  a  devotion  to  it,  a  confidence  in  it,  that  will 
never  be  shaken.  For  this  purpose  you  will  find  no 
school  like  nature. 

Truth  is  like  the  polar  star,  ever  steadfast,  ever  bright, 


EDUCATION.  39 

ever  faithful  ;  hidden  sometimes  by  the  gross  vapors  of 
the  earth,  we  need  but  a  little  patience  and  our  guiding 
star  will  again  appear.  We  always  know  where  to  look 
for  it. 

A  man  who  is  known  to  always  work  conscientiously, 
to  be  right,  whose  word  is  as  good  as  his  bond,  will,  be- 
yond any  peradventure,  obtain  a  hold  upon  his  fellow- 
men  that  nothing  else  will  give.  Intrigue  and  trading 
may  temporarily  obscure  him,  as  the  clouds  do  the  north 
star  ;  turmoil  and  the  pettiness  of  society  may  draw  away 
the  attention  of  the  people  from  such  a  man,  but  when 
danger  comes,  when  a  crisis  is  at  hand,  his  opponents 
will  disappear  like  mist  before  the  sun,  and  his  head  will 
rise  above  his  fellows  as  surely  as  the  sun  rises  in  the 
morning  to  dispel  the  mists  of  night. 

Whether  you  be  of  ordinary  or  great  ability,  be  hon- 
est, be  true,  be  in  the  right,  and  your  achievements  will 
be  grander  and  your  fame  more  permanent  than  by  any 
shystering,  intriguing,  or  pettiness  that  was  or  ever  will 
be  invented. 

You  cannot  be  great  in  anything  unless  you  act  in  har- 
mony with  its  verities.  Any  departure  from  truth  will 
weaken  your  character  and  diminish  your  capacity  to 
perceive  the  truth  in  your  chosen  pursuit,  and  if  the  de- 
parture be  considerable,  you  will  be  damned  to  be  an 
incompetent  trickster. 

The  truth  has  no  connection  with  coarseness  or  bru- 
tality. Some  individuals,  even  some  nations,  confuse  the 
two,  and  thus  lose  the  taste  for  truth.  In  the  ordinary 


40  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

affairs  and  social  intercourse  of  life,  tact  and  politeness 
are  of  very  great  value.  There  is  always  something 
pleasant  to  be  done  at  very  slight  cost.  There  is  always 
something  pleasant  to  be  said  that  is  true.  The  ameni- 
ties of  life  add  much  to  its  attractiveness.  A  person 
with  tact  will  secure  support  and  arrive  at  results  that 
one  of  superior  ability  without  it  could  not  attain. 

Flattery  is  praise  not  founded  on  truth,  or  commenda- 
tion not  meant,  and  is  a  deception  intended  to  obtain 
results  from  the  vanity  of  the  flattered.  It  weakens  both 
giver  and  receiver,  and  should  never  be  practised.  Tact 
and  politeness  come  from  the  heart  and  are  the  mirror 
of  true  sympathy  and  feeling. 

The  forms  of  politeness,  such  as  good-day,  good-night, 
shaking  hands,  visiting,  and  the  etiquette  of  social  inter- 
course, are  the  results  of  the  experience  of  mankind  as  to 
the  best  means  of  expressing  kind  feeling.  Good  man- 
ners indicate  the  thoroughbred.  Good  manners  are  a 
great  aid  to  success  ;  they  are  essential,  and  should  be 
taught.  In  teaching  them,  never  cease  to  impress  upon 
the  young  person  the  fact  that  good  manners  are  founded 
on  good  feeling.  The  hollow  forms  of  etiquette  may  be 
gone  through  with  correctly  and  still  leave  the  recipient 
ill  at  ease  or  unhappy.  This  is  not  good  manners.  On 
the  other  hand,  one  may  have  a  heart  full  of  sympathy 
and  kindness  and  still  be  so  unable  to  express  it,  or  so 
ignorant  of  what  to  do  or  when  to  do  it,  that  such  a  one 
is  looked  upon  as  cold  or  rude. 

Good  feeling  may  exist  without  good  manners.     Good 


EDUCATION.  41 

manners  cannot  exist  without  good  feeling.  There  is  in 
every  normal  human  being  a  fund  of  good  feeling  ;  culti- 
vate this  in  your  children,  and  teach  them  what  man's 
experience  has  found  to  be  the  best  means  of  giving  it 
expression  and  of  thus  pleasing  those  around  us.  In 
social  intercourse  the  truth  is  just  as  essential  as  it  is 
anywhere  else.  No  little  falsehoods  should  be  practised 
in  human  intercourse.  You  should  not  say  you  are  out 
when  you  are  in.  There  are,  however,  a  great  many 
truths  that,  if  uttered,  would  not  conduce  to  good  feel- 
ing. Silence  in  such  matters  should  be  the  rule.  Never 
speak  of  an  unpleasant  matter  unless  you  have  a  clearly 
thought  out  object  in  view.  In  society  speak  of  pleasant 
truths  ;  leave  unpleasant  ones  alone. 

There  is  one  rule  in  human  intercourse  which  should 
be  impressed  on  young  people  from  the  commence- 
ment, and  that  is  always  to  accentuate  and  bring  into 
prominence  things  -upon  which  you  and  those  around 
you  agree,  and  always  keep  those  things  upon  which  you 
do  not  agree  out  of  conversation,  and  only  to  be  brought 
to  view  in  some  short  and  extreme  moment  when  action 
is  deciding  whether  a  thing  shall  be  as  they  wish  it  or  as 
you  wish  it.  Stick  close  to  your  main  points,  but  be 
liberal  in  details  and  non-essentials. 

When  you  oppose,  cultivate  silence  and  action.  When 
you  agree,  study  combination,  keep  your  attention  to  the 
main  point  and  object  to  be  secured.  Avoid  controver- 
sies on  unimportant  details,  and  avoid  all  controversies,  as 
far  as  possible,  with  those  who  act  with  you. 


42  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

Take  advantage  of  opportunities  when  they  come,  and 
make  them  when  they  do  not. 

Young  people  will  not  be  able  to  be  perfect  in  anything 
at  once.  Competency  in  all  things  comes  slowly.  The 
child  learns  to  walk  only  after  effort  and  repeated  failure. 
Failure  at  first  must  be  expected  and  taken  for  granted. 
Do  not  blame  a  child  for  what  is  inevitable.  Study  con- 
tinually how  to  guide  them  to  avoid  error.  Show  them 
where  they  have  gone  wrong  and  the  causes  of  their 
failure.  Do  not  even  lead  a  child  to  think  mistake  and 
failure  a  disgrace.  On  the  contrary,  tell  them  that  this 
is  to  be  expected.  Not  to  succeed  eventually  is  disgrace, 
but  many  mistakes  are  to  be  expected,  nay,  in  humanity 
are  inevitable  on  the  way.  These  mistakes  which  all  per- 
sons do  and  must  make  in  life  are  useful  as  teachers  or  as 
so  many  guideposts  on  bad  roads  or  no  thoroughfares  to 
warn  us  not  to  take  them  again. 

Life  has  often  been  compared  to  a  journey.  It  is  a 
journey  through  a  country  sometimes  confusing  us  with 
a  maze  of  roads,  some  bad,  some  good,  some  going  no- 
where, some  going  backward,  and  others  in  advance, 
some  going  round  about,  some  going  direct.  In  other 
places  we  have  a  trackless  country  into  which,  if  we  ven- 
ture, we  must  trust  entirely  to  our  bearings  being  correct 
for  a  happy  exit. 

The  foundation  principles  and  great  and  immutable 
truths,  if  understood  and  followed,  will  not  perhaps  pre- 
vent all  deviations  from  the  most  direct  path  to  perma- 
nent success  and  to  immortality,  but  they  will,  beyond 


EDUCATION.  43 

peradventure,  prevent  serious  and  fatal  departures  from 
that  path,  and  will  furnish  a  sure  guide  to  a  speedy  return 
to  it  when  we  do  miss  our  way. 

Individuals  and  races  have,  when  successful,  followed 
the  direct  road.  Thus  far  in  life  no  nation  has  gone 
ahead  of  the  world  and  remained  ahead.  History  is  a 
chronicle  of  the  rapid  rise  and  rapid  decay  of  peoples. 
The  reason  of  their  advance  was  that  they  were  right, 
that  they  were  on  the  true,  direct  road.  The  reason  of 
their  decay  has  been  that  they  left  the  true  road,  did 
wrong,  and  wasted  their  strength  and  time  in  no  thor- 
oughfares. 

« 

Encourage  children  to  persistence.  Teach  them  to 
conquer  the  impediments  and  overcome  the  obstacles 
which  do  and  always  will  exist  in  any  life  effort.  Be 
careful  to  show  children  that  obstacles  exist  everywhere 
and  in  every  line  of  effort.  The  art  of  life  is  to  have  the 
persistence  to  overcome  them,  or  get  around  them  when 
they  are  too  large  or  too  difficult. 

Of  the  two  qualities — persistence  in  attack  upon  ob- 
stacles, and  the  strategy  to  circumvent  them — persistence 
is  by  far  the  most  valuable.  Obstacles  always  appear  in 
every  walk  of  life  and  in  everything  we  attempt  to  ac- 
complish. Things  often  appear  difficult,  even  impossible 
of  accomplishment,  that  can  be  and  are  achieved  by 
perseverance. 

At  the  same  time,  there  is  such  a  thing  as  wasting  time 
and  energy  on  the  extremely  difficult  or  impossible.  To 
draw  the  line  between  these  two  must  be  a  matter  for  the 


44  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

judgment  of  the  individual.  The  benefit  of  the  doubt, 
however,  must  always  be  given  to  perseverance. 

If  you  can  thoroughly  impress  upon  children  the  idea 
that  they  should  go  into  nothing  that  they  do  not  intend 
to  come  out  of  victorious,  that  they  must  expect  obstacles 
and  calculate  on  making  mistakes  before  the  great  object 
is  achieved,  and  induce  a  habit  of  looking  over  the  ground 
of  any  result  they  wish  to  attain  and  taking  account  of 
the  difficulties  that  lie  in  the  path  of  all  things,  from  a 
childhood  game  to  the  most  serious  work  of  life,  you  will 
have  done  much  to  secure  their  future  success. 

It  should  always  be  an  effort  of  a  parent  or  a  teacher 
to  secure  the  confidence  of  the  child  and  to  make  com- 
panions of  them.  The  standard  set  should  indeed  be  a 
high  one,  but  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  realize 
that  the  standard  can  only  be  achieved  through  a  pro- 
gressive development  ;  that  neither  character  nor  suc- 
cess can  be  picked  up  ready-made  ;  that  these  must  be 
worked  out  and  developed  in  the  individual,  and  that  this 
result  can  only  come  through  the  lessons  given  us  by  over- 
coming obstacles.  Failures  and  lack  of  success  at  first  are 
not  a  disgrace,  but  are  to  be  expected  and  conquered. 

The  higher  the  standard  set,  the  more  necessary  is  it  to 
follow  this  rule.  To  set  an  exceedingly  high  standard, 
and  then  to  teach  children  that  every  failure  in  their  at- 
tempt to  reach  it  is  a  disgrace,  must  result  in  discouraging 
the  child  and  driving  it  to  despair.  This  point  has  been 
somewhat  enlarged  on  in  the  chapter  on  the  Treatment 
of  the  Child. 


EDUCATION.  45 

Many  life  failures  are  owing  entirely  to  this  error. 
This  rule  should  apply  not  only  to  the  direct  and  material 
interests  of  life,  but  also  to  the  moral  qualities.  We  must 
remember  that  a  child's  moral  nature  is  quite  as  much  a 
matter  of  growth  and  development  as  the  physical  or 
mental.  The  one  may  be  maimed,  distorted,  weakened, 
or  diseased,  as  well  as  the  other. 

The  body  has  no  monopoly  of  sickness.  The  mental 
health  may  be  undermined  as  well  as  the  physical.  The 
one  depends  very  largely  on  the  other,  but  the  most  dis- 
astrous sickness  is  that  of  the  mind.  Strengthen  the 
body  and  you  strengthen  the  mind  and  moral  qualities. 
Strengthen  the  mind  and  the  moral  qualities  and  you 
strengthen  the  body. 

The  aim  of  the  educator  should,  therefore,  be  to  main- 
tain a  reasonable  balance  between  the  three. 

The  physical  results  achievable  by  the  man  are 
impossible  to  the  child  ;  still,  the  standard  should  be 
that  attainable  by  the  man,  recognizing,  however, 
that  that  standard  can  only  be  obtained  after  years  of 
growth  and  effort.  Never  call  upon  the  child  for  the 
impossible. 

So  also  in  what  to  many  is  far  less  evident,  that  is  that 
the  moral  and  mental  qualities  also  grow  and  develop. 
The  standard  set  should  be  the  highest ;  but  that  stand- 
ard can  never  be  attained  by  the  child.  A  human  being, 
while  a  child,  is  going  through  a  state  of  evolution.  It  is 
growing  and  developing  in  its  mental  and  moral  qualities 
just  as  much  as  it  is  in  its  physical. 


46  TASK'S  BY   TWILIGHT. 

The  teacher  should  never  unduly  blame  a  child  for  the 
imperfect  acts  or  thoughts,  the  evidence  of  a  transition 
state  ;  for  such  a  course  can  only  result  in  the  discourage- 
ment of  the  child. 

A  properly  brought  up  child  will  feel,  if  it  does  not 
perceive  through  the  reason,  that  its^imperfect  physical  or 
mental  traits  are  a  part  of  its  nature.  The  non-recognition 
of  this  fact,  and  the  undue  blame  or  punishment  of  out- 
croppings  of  nature,  can  never  strengthen  the  child  or 
lead  it  to  cure  these  defects,  but  must,  on  the  contrary, 
produce  an  opposite  result.  The  greatest  departures  from 
true  mental  balance,  as  from  moral  conduct,  is  by  those 
of  diseased  bodies  or  by  those  living  an  unnatural  life. 

The  limited  receptive  capacity  of  children  for  the  high- 
est thoughts  and  the  highest  education  is  a  double  reason 
for  never  sacrificing  the  physique  in  the  early  periods  of 
life,  to  teach  things  which  are  really  learned  only  by  rote 
and  not  understood. 

Up  to  and  safely  beyond  the  age  of  puberty,  the  first 
thought  of  the  parent  and  of  the  educator  should  be  the 
physique.  The  best  as  well  as  the  most  impressive  and 
lasting  education  is  that  of  object  teaching  and  personal 
experience.  This  can  be  and  should  be  mainly  taught 
outdoors.  Put  the  child's  hand  in  that  of  Nature  and  the 
progress  made  must  be  true. 

Such  a  system  of  education  for  the  mind  and  faculties, 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  conceive  of  as  going  on  with- 
out a  corresponding  education  and  development  of  the 
physique. 


EDUCATION.  47 

The  difficulty  of  educating  large  numbers  of  children 
in  this  way,  and  the  probability,  therefore,  that  such  a  sys- 
tem will  never  be  in  general  use  by  the  community,  should 
not  dull  the  parent's  appreciation  of  its  value,  but  should 
lead  him  to  redoubled  effort  to  secure  to  his  children  the  . 
correct  system  which  there  must  always  be  so  great  a 
tendency  to  suppress. 

The  objection  to  such  a  system  is,  that  it  may  be  so 

.       • 
conducted  as  to  neglect  the  mental  training  necessary  to     \x  v^ 

concentrate  the  faculties  upon  a  definite  purpose,  and  to 
acquire  technical  information  necessary  for  the  highest 
achievement. 

In  the  medical  schools  it  is  said  that  those  students, 
who  have  previously  graduated  at  some  university,  ac- 
quire their  medical  education  more  easily  and  stand 
higher  in  their  classes  than  those  students  who  have  not 
been  university  men.  Whether  the  advantage  continues 
in  the  outside  contest,  I  have  not  had  an  opportunity 
of  investigating. 

This  fact  shows  that  mental  training,  as  given  in  the 
schools,  has  some  advantages.  Of  course  the  question  at 
once  arises  as  to  the  comparative  value  of  the  four  year 
university  course  and  four  years  of  medical  college  study, 
or  the  eight  years  of  medical  work  to  the  intending  phy- 
sician. It  is  contended  that  the  liberal  education,  as  it 
is  called,  of  the  university,  will  help  the  medical  student 
more  than  the  entire  period  devoted  to  medicine.  It 
seems,  however,  that  seven  or  eight  years'  medical  study 
and  hospital  work,  with  some  reasonable  devotion  to  gen- 


48  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

eral  reading,  would  make  a  more  accomplished  physician 
than  four  years  of  university  work  and  three  or  four  of 
medicine. 

With  this  possible  weakness  in  view,  a  special  attention 
should  be  given  to  practise  the  mind  of  the  young  person 
to  acquire  dry  and  perhaps  tiresome  details,  so  as  to  have 
this  power  in  later  life.  Such  detail  study  should  always 
be  so  directed  as  to  conduct  the  student  to  the  compre- 
hension of  some  familiar  object. 

Many  men,  placed  in  prominent  positions  by  birth  or 
accident,  have  failed  to  properly  manage  their  own  or 
other  people's  affairs,  while  remarkably  skilled  in  details 
connected  with  these. 

A  number  of  the  failures  amongst  the  Roman  emper- 
ors were  phenomenally  skilled  in  the  details  of  military 
exercise.  Our  own  General  McClellan  was  an  instance 
of  this  :  acquainted  with  every  detail  of  war  and  its 
management,  he  accomplished  nothing  decisive  with  the 
great  army  at  his  command. 

Louis  XVI.  was  a  locksmith  of  merit,  but  no  states- 
man ;  and  so  the  instances  might  be  multiplied.  The 
Chinese  have  written  examinations  to  pass  for  political 
position.  To  pass  these  a  vast  mass  of  detail  must  be 
learned  by  rote.  It  is  the  ambition  of  the  Chinese  to 
secure  these  positions.  The  system  is  probably  one  of 
the  causes  which  has  led  to  the  stagnant  formalism  into 
which  this  people  has  fallen. 

Too  much  detail  is  destruction  ;  too  little  detail  is 
defect.  The  one  ends  in  a  scholastic  parrotism  in  which 


EDUCATION.  49 

the  mind  is  deprived  of  originality  and  breadth.  The 
other  leaves  us  without  any  true  understanding  of  any- 
thing, and  condemns  to  mediocrity.  The  wise  preceptor 
will  steer  between  the  two. 

Some  knowledge  of  nature,  a  great  deal  of  patience, 
and  a  faculty  of  putting  one's  self  on  the  physical  plane, 
if  the  information  to  be  given  is  physical,  or  on  the 
mental  plane,  if  the  information  to  be  given  is  intellect- 
ual, of  the  scholar,  are  requisities  for  a  good  teacher.  A 
union  of  these  capacities  is  far  from  common.  A  really 
competent  teacher  is  well  worthy  of  his  hire.  A  thou- 
sand difficulties  will  be  avoided  by  children  so  officered. 
No  pains  should  be  spared  to  give  children  this  great 
advantage. 

It  is  rare  that  a  child  should  be  forced  to  study.  A 
child  is  naturally  curious  and  ever  on  the  quest  for  in- 
formation. If  the  child  revolts  at  receiving  information, 
it  is  a  complete  condemnation,  either  of  the  character 
of  information  imparted,  or  of  the  methods  employed. 
A  reform  should  be  undertaken  out  of  hand  in  such  a 
case.  Information  should  always  be  shaped  to  the  bent 
and  capacity  of  the  child.  If  instruction  be  given  on  a 
rational  plan,  with  proper  incentives,  searching  to  give  it 
in  the  line  of  the  child's  interest,  there  will  never  be  a 
question  of  forcing  the  child,  but  rather  of  holding  it 
back.  The  need  will  not  be  the  whip  but  the  brake. 

There  may  be  children  and  there  may  be  times  when 
study  should  be  forced,  but  such  occasions  are  so  very 
rare,  that  the  rule  should  be  to  at  once  reform  the 


$0  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

methods  which  have  brought  about  what  must  be  con- 
sidered an  unnatural  condition, 

A  disinclination  of  a  child  to  acquire  the  information 
offered  to  it  may  be  nature's  protest  as  well  against  the 
matter  as  the  method.  Some  children  will  not  study, 
without  force,  arithmetic,  while  history  is  to  them  a 
pastime  ;  with  others  the  reverse  is  the  case  ;  they  will 
take  to  the  arithmetic  and  hate  history.  One  finds  con- 
tinual instances  of  this  kind.  In  fact,  it  is  rare  that  a 
child  has  not  affinities  and  facility  in  some  things,  and 
aversions  and  difficulty  in  others.  Children  should  be 
pressed  the  least  possible,  and  generally  not  at  all,  on 
what  they  dislike,  and  turned  freely  into  that  course  for 
which  they  show  a  predilection. 

From  a  child's  natural  tastes  valuable  hints  may  be 
derived  to  show  for  what  useful  life  they  should  be 
fitted. 

The  old  saying  goes,  "  As  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree  is 
inclined,"  a  very  true  and  very  important  fact  to  bear  in 
mind.  But  it  is  also  true  that,  with  favorable  natural 
conditions,  a  tree  will  always  grow  straight,  and  always 
grow  to  harmonize  and  take  the  best  advantage  of  its 
surroundings  without  any  twig  bending  at  all.  In  a 
forest  it  will,  protected  by  other  trees,  search  with  nearly 
branchless  stem  for  sun  and  air  ;  in  the  open  it  will  be 
•shorter,  thicker,  and  throw  out  low  branches  to  protect 
itself  from  undue  amounts  of  sun  and  wind. 

Nature,  so  safe  a  guide  with  trees,  may  well  be  more 
trusted  with  human  beings  than  it  is.  Where  a  parent's 


EDUCATION.  51 

or  teacher's  care  comes  in  best  is  in  furnishing  fertilizers 
and  cultivation. 

To  carry  the  simile  of  trees  to  those  few  children 
who  may  need  force  and  correction  to  lead  useful  lives, 
let  us  take  the  fruit-trees. 

Some,  like  the  apricot,  should  be  pruned.  It  is  better 
for  the  fruit  that  they  should  be  pruned  badly,  nay, 
massacred,  than  not  pruned  at  all.  Others,  like  the  pear, 
apple,  quince,  and  most  of  the  fruits,  should  only  be 
touched  by  the  skilful,  and  then  but  lightly.  It  is  far 
better  for  these,  the  great  majority  of  fruit-trees,  not  to 
be  pruned  at  all,  than  to  be  badly  cut  to  pieces  by  the 
ignorant. 

Other  trees,  then,  are  like  the  walnut,  that  are  only 
pruned  at  the  expense  of  fruit-bearing  and  general 
vigor.  In  my  experience  these  latter  trees  are  much 
better  in  every  way  when  unpruned.  They  bear  earlier, 
give  larger  returns,  and  are  stronger.  But  all  these  trees 
give  great  returns  to  cultivation  and  judicious  care. 
The  object  of  all  our  care  to  fruit-trees  is  to  obtain 
results. 

So  it  may  be  said  of  human  beings.  Some  few  need 
force  and  correction,  typified  by  pruning,  and  are  better 
off,  even  though  the  correction  be  coarsely  and  roughly 
applied,  than  they  would  be  without  it. 

Others  and  many  are  improved  by  some  judicious 
direction  in  the  way  of  suppressing  worthless  character- 
istics or  fruitless  branches  ;  these  are  better  untouched 
than  badly  handled.  Others,  then,  are  such  that  you  can 


52  TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 

only  cut  into  and  force  their  bent  at  the  expense  of  the 
individual,  and  to  their  injury;  these  surely  should  be 
let  alone. 

All,  like  the  trees,  respond  to  skilful  and  appropriate 
cultivation. 

Our  aim,  ever  clearly  to  be  kept  in  view,  should  be 
results — a  future  useful  life. 

All  children  should  be  given  information  and  practice 
in  the  usages  of  polite  society.  Not  only  should  they 
have  good  manners,  which,  as  has  been  said,  are  based 
on  good  feeling,  but  they  should  be  taught  how  to 
come  into  a  room  full  of  people  and  how  to  get  out 
of  it,  a  thing  not  as  easy  to  do  well  as  it  might  seem. 
They  should  also  be  given  at  least  a  fair  familiarity 
with  what  are  called  the  accomplishments,  such  as 
dancing,  etc. 

If  a  child  be  ignorant  of  the  usages  of  society,  espe- 
cially those  children  of  a  sensitive  disposition,  they  will 
be  so  embarrassed  and  mortified  on  their  contact  with  it, 
as  to  give  them  a  horror  of  polite  society. 

The  energy  of  young  people  must  have  an  outlet.  If 
their  superfluous  vitality  have  not  vent  in  dancing  and 
any  well-regulated  custom  of  society,  it  is  but  natural  to 
suppose  that  this  energy  will  take  some  other  course. 
Thus  a  young  person  may  become  morbid,  unhappy,  and 
even  take  to  vice  and  low  companions,  as  Prince  Henry 
did  to  Falstaff. 

It  is  therefore  a  matter  of  considerable  moment  to 
young  people  after  the  age  of  puberty,  and  particularly 


EDUCATION.  S3 

about  their  mating-time,  that  they  should  be  familiar 
with  the  usages  of  good  society,  so  as  to  feel  at  home 
in  it. 

In  this  way  the  gregarious  instinct  which  is  then 
strong  will  find  a  natural  and  easy  satisfaction  in  asso- 
ciation with  the  best  humanity  the  world  affords.  Thus 
your  sons  and  daughters,  at  a  critical  period,  will  be 
thrown  without  effort  amongst  those  most  eligible  for 
them  as  life  partners. 

There  are  fashions  in  education  as  there  are  in  other 
things.  It  will  be  well  to  conform  in  some  degree  to  the 
fashion  of  your  time  in  education.  Otherwise  you  will 
be  uncomfortable  in  your  social  relations.  Never  follow 
a  vicious  fashion  in  education,  no  matter  how  general 
it  may  be,  or  how  uncomfortable  its  absence  may 
make  you. 

No  special  course  is  laid  down.  This  might  be  done 
for  to-day,  but  it  seems  probable  that  for  to-morrow  a 
plan  of  this  kind,  dealing  with  details,  would  be  likely 
to  bring  on  a  Chinese  stagnation.  Be  fixed  in  principle 
and  flexible  in  all  else. 

There  are,  however,  two  studies  that  all  children 
should  take  irrespective  of  their  selected  careers.  These 
are  medicine  and  law. 

In  taking  a  course  in  medicine,  it  is  not  meant  that 
you  should  go  to  a  point  fitting  you  to  be  a  practising 
physician,  but  that  a  course  of  physiology,  anatomy, 
including  some  practical  dissections,  etc.,  should  be 
taken,  and  visits  to  the  hospitals  be  had. 


54  TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 

Health  is  indeed  important,  but  the  healthy  too  often 
think  nothing  of  it,  until,  by  the  violation  of  some 
sanitary  law,  they  suffer  perhaps  beyond  relief. 

There  is  probably  no  way  of  impressing  the  import- 
ance of  health,  and  of  the  observation  of  sanitary  laws, 
as  some  familiarity  with  medicine,  and  the  awful  and  in- 
evitable results  of  the  violation  of  these  laws.  Hospitals 
show  these  matters  under  a  thousand  different  forms, 
but  there  is  one  ward  into  which  all  young  men  should 
be  taken,  and  that  is  the  one  where  venereal  diseases  are 
treated. 

No  more  impressive  lesson  can  be  given  to  young  men 
of  the  value  of  marriage,  as  a  mere  conserver  of  health, 
than  a  syphilis  hospital  ward.  The  horror  and  revolt  of 
nature  against  the  prostituting  of  our  reproductive 
powers  will  be  reflected  in  the  eyes  of  the  witness  who  sees 
some  of  its  results.  Man  alone  in  the  Creation  prosti- 
tutes these  powers.  Man  alone  suffers  the  inexpressible 
pain  and  suffering  consequent  upon  prostitution. 

In  these  hospital  wards,  also,  will  be  seen  what  to  me 
is  the  awful  penalty  of  inheritance.  The  continuation 
of  the  punishment  of  nature  to  innocent  children,  and 
again  to  their  children  in  constitutional  taints.  No  one 
knows  how  long  the  expiation  lasts. 

I  can  think  of  no  surer  cure  to  the  promiscuous  pros- 
titution of  the  reproductive  powers,  than  a  ward  full  of 
human  beings,  dying,  rotting,  and  stinking  with  syphilis 
while  they  yet  live.  Sores  breaking  out,  fingers,  toes,  noses 
rotting  off,  and  the  intellect  conscious  of  the  situation. 


EDUCATION.  55 

The  plain  truth  in  this  case,  as  in  all  others,  is  the 
strongest  moral  teacher  you  can  -secure. 

Physiology  should  be  taught  to  all  young  people, 
certainly  by  the  time  they  reach  the  age  of  puberty. 
The  most  important  feature  of  this  study  should  be  the 
action  and  grandeur  of  the  reproductive  organs.  The 
importance  of  care  and  attention  in  the  development 
and  strengthening  of  these  organs  should  not  be  lost 
sight  of. 

Probably  a  good  way  to  give  this  information  is  by 
studying  at  first  the  reproductive  organs  and  their 
beauty  in  the  plants,  showing  that  the  glory  of  the  plant 
is  in  its  flower  and  fruit,  that  is,  in  its  reproduction. 
From  the  vegetable  world  pass  to  the  insects  and  fish, 
then  to  the  animals,  then  to  man.  Slur  nothing.  Teach 
the  truth  entire. 

It  may  be  thought  by  some  that  the  delicacy,  modesty, 
and  purity  of  the  child,  and  especially  of  the  girl,  will  be 
injured  by  this  course. 

Do  not  let  such  an  error  deceive  you.  It  is  only  nec- 
essary to  go  back  to  your  own  childhood  for  a  complete 
destruction  of  this  idea.  If  your  father  or  mother  im- 
parted to  you  the  grand  mysteries  of  procreation,  you 
will  appreciate  without  further  argument  the  value  of 
the  information.  On  the  other  hand,  if  responsible  and 
trusted  persons  told  you  nothing,  as  is  commonly  the 
case,  you  nevertheless  learned  what  the  sexual  relation 
of  mankind  was.  The  reproductive  instinct  is  the 
strongest  that  man  has.  It  is  also  the  most  important. 


56  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

Our  thoughts,  as  we  develop,  will  in  spite  of  everything 
occupy  themselves  with  this  function.  If  our  natural 
teachers  are  silent,  this  instinct  will  fill  us,  and  does  fill 
young  people,  with  an  overpowering  curiosity.  The 
result  is  that  we  inform  ourselves  on  this,  the  most  im- 
portant duty  of  our  lives,  behind  water-closet  doors, 
through  vile  verses  of  doggerel,  in  shamefaced  talks 
with  servants  or  vulgar  playmates. 

The  information  thus  obtained  is  almost  exclusively 
of  a  low,  obscene,  degrading  character.  We  do  not  have 
the  slightest  glimpse  of  the  grandeur  of  creation  in  re- 
production. Its  value,  necessity,  and  godlike  character- 
istics are  hidden  and  suppressed. 

An  instinct  so  strong  when  completely  misunder- 
stood by  the  young  is  a  thousand  times  more  liable 
to  be  misdirected  and  abused  than  if  it  were  under- 
stood. 

As  has  been  said,  while  man  by  means  of  Love  has 
the  highest  view  of  reproduction,  and  by  the  use  of  the 
reason  has  a  capacity  for  a  still  higher  appreciation  of 
this  grand  function,  he  has  also  in  prostitution  a  lower 
activity  in  this  regard  than  any  other  animal.  He  can 
and  does  sink  to  a  depth  of  depravity  unknown  in  any 
other  organized  being. 

What  then  is  the  object  of  this  silence  on  so  great  a 
topic,  by  those  whose  words  could  guide  the  youth  from 
so  dangerous  a  fall  and  lead  him  amongst  the  flowers 
and  fruits  of  life,  where  our  greatest  pleasures  lie  ?  It 
js  an  ignorance  impossible  to  secure. 


EDUCATION.  57 

Can  it  be  well  for  a  child  to  hear  of  these  things  from 
inferior  or  depraved  human  beings  ?  To  have  the  door 
half  opened  and  to  be  shown  the  very  lowest  view  of 
sexual  activity  that  can  be  given  ?  No  ;  the  present 
custom  is  folly  dancing  an  invitation  to  fruitless  crime. 

Children  will  obtain  some  view  of  sex.  Their  curi- 
osity comes  from  nature  and  can  not  be  suppressed. 
They  must  learn  something  of  its  activities. 

If  the  irresponsible  are  to  be  teachers  in  this  recruit- 
ing of  life,  the  pleasures  will  be,  or  rather  are  associ- 
ated with,  the  abuse  and  misuse  of  the  reproductive 
powers,  where  these  pleasures  do  not  really  exist,  while 
the  responsibilities,  dangers,  and  real  joys  are  left 
entirely  out. 

Do  not  commit  an  error  of  omission  which  partakes 
of  criminal  negligence.  Tell  your  children  in  plain, 
dignified  language  the  whole  story.  Explain  the  pleas- 
ure and  grandeur  of  a  proper  use  of  the  reproductive 
powers.  Tell  the  dangers,  disease,  and  death  that  come 
from  their  neglect  or  abuse.  Tell  the  truth,  the  whole 
truth,  and  exaggerate  nothing. 

One  of  the  things  to  teach  in  connection  with  Physi- 
ology is  the  importance  of  marriage  to  true  happiness, 
and  to  the  greatest  success  of  life. 

The  miserable  existence  of  an  old  man,  a  bachelor 
dozing  in  his  club,  a  supernumerary  laughed  at  or 
neglected  by  the  young  who  have  come  to  control. 
The  childless  husband  living  without  family  life,  in  a 
boarding-house  or  hotel,  dropping  out  of  his  pleasures 


58  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

as  age  creeps  on  ;  his  wife,  if  she  amounts  to  anything 
full  of  ideas  of  society,  flirtation,  or  woman's  rights 
with  nothing  to  attach  her  to  home  and  no  home 
to  be  attached  to.  Extermination  staring  his  hopeless 
existence  out  of  countenance.  What  pictures  may  be 
made  of  masquerading  misery  from  the  lives  of  the 
homeless.  The  childless  man  is  either  a  fanatic,  a 
nonentity,  or  a  roue.  If  he  be  wifeless,  he  usually  preys 
upon  society  in  one  way  or  another.  Spends  his  nights 
amongst  forlorn,  hopeless,  and  depraved  women,  drink- 
ing to  forget  the  death'shead  that  presides  at  every  orgy, 
or  in  some  way  tries  to  lose  sight  of  the  reality  of  his 
fatal  mistake.  Or  if  he  be  wived  and  childless,  he  is  still 
single  in  fact  with  only  a  better  regulated  prostitution. 
His  life  in  this  world  can  be  healthier  and  longer,  but 
his  end  is  as  hopeless  and  forlorn.  He  will  die  the  death 
and  realize  himself  forsaken  if  poor,  or  toadied  to  and 
nattered  by  the  venal  if  rich.  What  is  worse  company 
than  a  venal  toady  for  an  inheritance. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  show  the  joy  of  a  home  full  of 
children,  where  pleasure  reigns  with  an  object  for  life 
and  a  future  to  the  parents  growing  old.  Any  judicious 
man  who  keeps  in  mind  and  before  his  children  the  im- 
mortality children  can  give,  may  have  a  happy  and 
joyous  home,  and  this  can  be  shown  in  any  community 
by  calling  your  young  people's  attention  to  and  showing 
them  the  lives  of  people  under  your  very  nose.  So  also 
the  miserable  emptiness  of  a  childless  old  age  can  be 
equally  illustrated  in  any  community. 


EDUCATION.  59 

In  such  illustrations  from  life,  many  men  will  be  found 
with  wives  and  children  and  every  condition  present  for 
a  happy  home,  and  still  no  home  or  no  such  home  as 
man  ought  to  have,  and  no  pleasure  from  his  children. 

This  should  be  explained.  It  is  always  due  to  one  or 
two  things,  or  may  be  partly  to  both. 

First.  To  the  fact  that  the  man  does  not  understand 
the  principles  of  marriage,  and  what  the  man's  position 
in  that  contract  is  :  that  is,  that  he  is  and  must  be  head 
and  chief.  Or, 

Second,  to  the  lack  of  appreciation  either  in  the 
heart  or  in  the  reason  of  children. 

If  one  feels  that  the  child  of  his  loins  is  his  worldly 
immortality,  his  renewed  life,  and  impresses  this  on  his 
child,  he  can  never  have  a  quarrelling  family  where  hap- 
piness, confidence,  and  mutual  support  do  not  exist. 

So  also  children  who  know  that  they  are  the  continued 
life  of  their  parents,  and  who  have  instilled  into  them 
the  necessity  of  themselves  having  children  to  carry  on 
immortality  in  its  only  tangible  shape,  can  never  lose  a 
regard  for  home. 

The  comprehension  or  knowledge  of  the  principles  of 
law  is  of  great  value.  The  principles  of  law  are  the  ac- 
cumulated experience  of  mankind  of  the  best  way  to 
carry  on  society.  Every  man  should  be  familiar  with 
them.  Innumerable  pitfalls  and  stumbling-blocks  will 
be  avoided  by  such  a  knowledge. 

This  study  will  show  how  slowly  and  tentatively  the 
present  laws  governing  society  have  grown  up  and  crys- 


60  TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 

tallized.    The  superior  races  have  all  gradually  developed 
systems  of  law  that  are  at  least  similar  in  their  principles. 

* 

The  security  in  the  results  of  individual  effort,  that  is 
property  and  the  encouragement  of  reproduction  by  the 
maintenance  of  the  family,  are  the  foundation  of  all  law. 
Be  sure  and  found  yourself  in  the  principles  before  go- 
ing much  into  detail.  Law  is  perhaps  the  one  subject 
that  demands  this  course. 

Formalism  is  the  besetting  danger  of  organized  so- 
ciety. As  soon  as  a  people  achieves  greatness,  power,  and 
extended  influence,  an  extensive  organization  becomes 
necessary  and  is  developed.  Organization  is  conserva- 
tive and  is  never  long  friendly  to  progress.  It  diminishes 
mobility  and  tends  to  stagnation. 

Organization  is  so  advantageous,  and  often  so  neces- 
sary, that  its  drawbacks  are  always  in  the  end  lost  sight 
of.  Its  follower,  formalism,  must  be  guarded  against 
in  the  most  careful  way.  Anything  is  better  than 
stagnation.  Formalism  in  education  has  long  since 
been  a  prince.  The  great  advances  in  thought  have 
been  made  outside  of  its  regulation  pale.  Thus  science 
in  the  last  seventy  years  has  made  wonderful  advances, 
and  has  revolutionized  both  our  physical  and  intellectual 
lives.  But  it  has  only  been  admitted  to  the  schools 
during  the  last  few  years.  Its  official  recognition,  so 
far,  has  not  added  to  its  true  laurels  of  achievement. 
It  may  be  that  science  owes  much  to  the  enmity  and 
opposition  of  the  universities  in  keeping  it  out  of  their 
ruts. 


EDUCATION.  6 1 

In  education  we  must  insist  at  every  risk  on  maintain- 
ing individuality  and  originality,  and  our  aim  should  be 
the  proper  preparation  of  the  pupil  for  the  greatest  work 

Of   life — THE  IMMORTALITY  GIVEN    BY  REPRODUCTION  IN 
THE    CHILD. 

OBSERVATION. 

This  quality  is  natural  in  all  children.  Our  present 
system  dwarfs  the  native  capacity  in  this  respect.  Con- 
tact and  communion  with  nature  is  the  first  and  best 
means  of  maintaining  and  improving  this  quality.  Na- 
ture always  tells  the  truth,  and  nature,  therefore,  is  the 
best  guide. 

Show  a  child  the  difference  between,  and  characteris- 
tics of  plants,  animals,  earths,  rocks,  and  of  all  natural 
phenomena.  Question  them  minutely  and  systematically 
on  details,  and  thus  habituate  them  to  a  close  observation 
of  everything  they  see.  We  should  never  cease  main- 
taining, by  all  means,  an  interest  in  the  workings  of 
nature.  As  the  child  develops,  the  effect  of  natural 
laws  should  be  studied  and  derived  from  the  details  with 
which  the  child  will,  at  that  time,  be  familiar.  In  this 
way  it  will  be  easy  to  teach  the  child  how  to  preserve 
his  own  physical  well-being.  A  valuable  means  of  ob- 
taining this  result  is  the  study  of  sanitary  law  and  the 
disastrous  results  of  its  violation. 

Bad  sewerage,  bad  water,  unhealthy  avocations,  and 
unhealthy  locations — their  results  in  low  vitality  and  high 
death-rates  should  in  all  cases  be  taught.  A  child's  ob- 


62  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

serving  qualities  will  thus  be  strengthened,  and  his  atten- 
tion directed  to  these  matters  of  the  greatest  import  to 
himself  and  to  his  future  family.  By  avoiding  these 
dangers,  his  own  physical  and  mental  activities  will  be 
greater,  and  he  will  be  able  to  avert  many  sad  bereave- 
ments in  the  sickness  and  loss  of  wife  or  children. 

Give  great  importance  to  this  matter.  If  a  child 
comes  from  your  hands  knowing  a  good  horse  from  a 
bad  one — how  to  tell  a  good  cow,  a  good  pig,  a  good 
tree,  good  plant,  good  meat,  good  provisions,  good  cook- 
ing, and  can  distinguish  the  good  from  the  poor  in  those 
things  coming  under  his  everyday  observation,  it  will  be 
comparatively  easy  for  him  to  .develop  this  quality  to  an 
application  to  any  business  in  life  he  may  undertake. 
The  father  in  teaching  these  things  will  learn  not  a 
little  himself. 

There  has  been  one  point  that  has  been  reserved  till 
the  last,  but  it  is  the  most  important,  and  that  is  how  to 
tell  a  good  man  or  a  good  woman  from  a  poor  one. 
Physical  and  moral  strength  should  be  a  twin  standard 
of  excellence. 

In  this  way  a  boy  or  girl  will  come  to  have  innate  percep- 
tions of  the  true  in  humanity.  He  will  avoid  the  unsuc- 
cessful, and  in  that  most  important  of  all  the  acts  of 
life — marriage — he  or  she  will  be  far  less  liable  to  err 
than  would  otherwise  be  the  case. 

When  you  become  a  parent  you  should,  by  continual 
repetition,  point  out  the  disastrous  results  of  matrimonial 
alliances  with  poorly-bred  people.  By  poorly  bred  is 


EDUCATION.  63 

meant  those  who  have  poor  physiques,  poor  minds,  or, 
as  so  often  happens,  both. 

This  faculty  in  your  children  to  recognize  strong  men 
and  women  from  weak  ones  should  be  so  thoroughly 
founded  in  reason,  as  to  be  above  and  independent  of 
prejudice.  Each  person  who  follows  these  doctrines 
may  hope  that  the  minds  and  hearts  of  their  children 
will  be  so  educated  as  that  they  will  discard  and  never 
think  of  making  a  scrub  alliance  in  any  business  of  life. 

Matrimony  is  the  most  important  of  all  these  alliances. 
If  a  breeder  of  horses,  cattle,  dogs,  or  poultry  will  be- 
come enraged  with  a  careless  person,  for  even  so  much  as 
placing  an  opportunity  in  the  way  of  his  animals  for  de- 
grading their  breed,  how  much  more  should  we,  the 
reasonable  beings  who  attach  so  much  importance  to 
good  qualities  in  the  lower  animals,  care  for  and  con- 
sider the  welfare  of  our  own  stock. 

The  quality  of  observation  is  inherent  in  the  human 
being.  Give  it  play,  cultivate  it,  and  strengthen  the 
reason  by  continuous  application  so  that  the  relation  of 
the  truths  of  nature  to  life  can  be  applied.  Thus  will 
the  intellect  be  developed  better  than  by  any  other 
means  that  you  can  devise. 

The  duty  of  the  parent  is  to  lead  the  child  to  perceive 
facts  for  himself  and  to  reason  on  them.  If  you  can 
habituate  a  child  to  this,  the  battle  is  won.  Your  child's 
education  is  founded  on  a  rock.  Nothing  can  stop  it 
except  disease  and  death.  The  first  of  these  you  will 
have  done  much  to  prevent  and  the  second  to  postpone. 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS. 


THERE  is  no  more  limit  to  what  a  woman  should 
know  than  there  is  to  what  a  man  should  know. 
Time,  capacity,  and  the  appropriateness  of  the  thing 
taught  to  make  the  life  of  the  individual  useful  are  the 
considerations  which  should  decide  our  policy  in  Educa- 
tion. 

The  capacity  of  individuals  differs  greatly.  One  per- 
son whose  energy  is  devoted  to  acquiring  the  details  of 
the  law  would  make  a  good  lawyer,  but  were  this  energy 
devoted  to  the  details  of  medicine  as  well  as  of  law,  the 
individual  might  be  neither  a  good  lawyer  nor  a  good 
physician.  Another  individual  with  greater  capacity 
might  study  both  subjects  and  be  proficient  in  each  of 
them,  or  make  one  subservient  to  the  other.  Thus  the 
study  of  both  subjects  in  the  one  individual  would  be 
detrimental,  and  in  the  other  advantageous. 

Owing  to  this  infinite  variety  of  capacity  in  human 
beings  it  is  impossible  to  lay  down  any  hard  and  fast  rule, 
as  to  what  any  class  of  persons  shall  or  shall  not  study. 
The  extraordinary  physical  energy  of  the  insane  is  prob- 
ably due  to  the  liberation  of  energy  devoted  in  the  sane 
to  ratiocination  and  its  application  by  the  insane  to  mus- 

64 


EDUCATION   OF  GIRLS.  6$ 

cular  movement.  We  thus  see  the  disadvantage  of  an 
ill-balanced  development  of  capacity.  The  muscular 
force  of  some  insane  is  dangerous  and  not  useful,  be- 
cause the  energy  that  makes  its  manifestation  possible 
has  left  the  mind  without  sufficient  force  to  guide  and 
control  it.  Proper  balance  must  be  had. 

While  the  sexes,  as  such,  are  quite  different  from  each 
other  in  tastes  and  capacities,  they  still  in  their  individ- 
uals frequently  cross  into  each  other's  spheres.  In  fact, 
it  is  difficult  now  to  say  what  these  spheres  are  according 
to  the  method  of  a  few  years  past.  In  general  it  is  true 
that  the  creative  power  of  the  mind  is  largely  man's,  and 
the  creative  power  of  the  body  is  largely  woman's.  Of 
the  two,  I  esteem  the  power  of  the  woman  most  impor- 
tant, for  in  it  there  is  a  promise  of  immortality  for  the 
individual,  tangible  and  direct.  The  difficulty  of  making 
an  educational  limit  for  the  individual  is  equally  appar- 
ent when  an  attempt  is  made  to  mark  a  limitation  for 
the  sexes. 

The  nature  of  our  lives  as  human  beings  makes  it 
necessary  for  us  to  have  children.  The  person  or  the 
race  without  these  has  before  them  a  prompt  extermina- 
tion. The  female,  while  enjoying  the  glory  of  mother- 
hood, has  also  from  necessity  to  abstain  from  doing 
what  she  could  do  were  she  not  engaged  in  this  duty. 

The  great  importance,  nay,  the  absolute  necessity  of 
performing  the  duties  of  motherhood  has  developed 
woman  for  this  function.  Her  character,  sympathies, 

physique,  all  prepare  her  for  this  duty.     The  energies 
§ 


66  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

which  naturally  take  this  direction  can  but  in  few  cases 
be  diverted  to  other  things  of  importance,  without  causing 
some  diminution  in  the  child-bearing  capacity.  The 
question  to  decide  in  our  education  of  girls  is  where  to 
draw  this  line,  taking  into  consideration  the  capacity  of 
each  particular  individual  with  whom  we  have  to  deal. 

The  narrowing  of  the  chest  and  pelvis  in  many  Amer- 
ican women,  and  the  lack  of  power  in  about  50  per  cent, 
of  those  from  New  England,  (Allan)  to  secrete  sufficient 
milk  for  such  children  as  they  bear,  is  an  indication  that 
the  alarming  diminution  in  the  native  American  birth- 
rate is  at  least  partially  due  to  incapacity  as  well  as  to 
artificial  prevention.  The  lack  of  desire  for  children 
now  so  frequently  thrust  into  notice  is  perhaps  only  a 
reflex  of  the  lack  of  capacity. 

Dr.  Nathan  Allan,  who  has  examined  this  subject  and 
the  vital  statistics  of  New  England  and  Ohio  connected 
with  it,  attributes  these  changes  in  the  birth-rate  and  loss 
of  fertility  in  Americans  to  our  system  of  life  and  educa- 
tion. The  education  seems  in  his  view  much  the  most 
fatal  of  the  two.  The  opinion  of  the  American-born 
women  against  large  families  and  often  against  any 
children,  and  their  growing  incapacity  in  reproduction, 
is  shared  by  the  American-born  men. 

Many  side  lights  show  the  rapidity  of  our  deteriora- 
tion in  reproduction.  Some  of  these  are  the  lower  birth- 
rate, small  families,  incapacity  to  suckle,  late  marriages, 
increased  divorce,  etc.  Hirst,  the  latest  authority  on  ob- 
stetrics, shows  that  malpresentations  in  labor  are  more 


EDUCATION   OF  GIRLS.  6/ 

numerous  amongst  American  women  than  amongst  any 
others.  Next  comes  France,  only  a  little  better,  then 
England  with  only  about  half  as  many,  and  best  of  all, 
Germany  with  less  than  one  third  as  many  as  in  Amer- 
ica. 

The  general  physique  and  appearance  of  American 
women  as  a  whole,  is  not  promising  as  to  reproduction. 
They  are,  as  a  rule,  slight,  nervous,  intelligent,  superficial, 
and  fond  of  pleasure.  They  lack  earnestness  of  charac- 
ter, faith  in  anything,  and  physical  force. 

Some  of  the  recent  statistics  show  the  changes  taking 
place  in  New  England  owing  to  weakness  in  reproduc- 
tion. Here  is  a  sample  : 

Of  those  engaged  in      agriculture,   \  are  of  foreign  birth. 

"         "         fisheries,     \  " 

"        "manufactories,!  "  "        " 

"       "  "         "  manual  labor,  f     "  "         "         " 

The  School  Report  of  Manchester,  N.  H.,  of  1887, 
shows  72  per  cent,  of  the  children  of  school  age  to  be  of 
foreign  parentage.  In  Lewiston,  Me.,  of  6,781  minors, 
only  1,859  were  of  American  parentage.  In  Mt.  Hoi- 
yoke,  Mass.,  of  6,297  minors  but  843  were  of  American 
parentage.  A  population  of  foreign  extraction  is  taking 
the  place  of  the  native  New  England  stock  and  not  very 
slowly  either.  From  an  almost  universal  faith  in  some 
forms  of  Protestantism,  we  find  the  dominant  religion  of 
New  England  to  have  become  Roman  Catholic.  The 
conversions  cut  no  perceptible  figure  in  the  results.  It 
has  been  produced  by,  immigration  of  Catholics,  and  by 


68  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

the  numerous  children  of  their  loins  taking  the  place  of 
the  native  stock,  whose  reproductive  powers  fail  to  neu- 
tralize immigration  and  death. 

From  a\  universal  use  of  the  English  language  we  find 
large  and  increasing  numbers  using  only  French.  For 
instance,  there  are  of  these  French-speaking  people  whose 
avowed  object  is  to  maintain  their  language  and  religion, 
12,000  in  Manchester,  N.  H.,  5,500  in  Nashua,  20,000  in 
Fall  River,  and  a  total  in  New  England  of  over  half  a 
million  persons.  At  the  present  rate  of  change  the 
French  language  will  soon  be  dominant  in  New  Eng- 
land as  their  religion  already  is. 

When  we  consider  that  all  this  supplanting  of  the  na- 
tive stock  has  taken  place  within  a  short  period,  and  in 
a  naturally  fertile  race,  that  had  complete  and  sole 
possession,  we  must  realize  that  there  is  something  rad- 
ically wrong.  Eusebius,  Themistocles,  Polybius,  and  a 
number  of  other  ancient  writers  observed  similar  condi- 
tions in  antiquity,  preceding  the  downfall  of  the  races 
where  they  occurred. 

Polybius,  speaking  of  the  decline  of  the  population  in 
Greece  before  the  Roman  conquest,  says  that  it  was  not 
due  to  war  or  plague  or  famine,  but  to  an  indisposition 
toward  marriage,  and  an  avoidance  of  children  when  in 
that  relation.  One  of  his  sentences  would  apply  very 
perfectly  to  our  own  time.  He  says,  "  For  when  men 
gave  themselves  to  ease  and  comfort  and  indolence,  and 
would  neither  marry  nor  rear  children  born  to  them,  or 
at  least  only  one  or  two,  in  order  to  leave  these  rich  and 
to  bring  them  up  in  luxury,  the  evil  soon  spread  imper- 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  69 

ceptibly,  but  with  rapid  growth  ;  for  when  there  was 
only  a  child  or  two  in  a  family  for  war  or  disease  to 
carry  off,  the  inevitable  consequence  was  that  houses 
were  left  desolate,  and  cities  by  degrees  became  like  de- 
serted hives.  And  there  is  no  need  to  consult  the  gods 
about  the  modes  of  deliverance  from  the  evil,  for  any 
man  would  tell  us  that  the  first  thing  we  have  to  do  is  to 
change  our  habits,  or  at  all  events  to  enact  laws  compell- 
ing the  married  to  rear  children." 

We  may  say  in  passing  that  Polybius'  legal  remedy  is 
not  practical.  Prof.  Seelye  shows  that  similar  conditions 
prevailed  in  Rome  before  its  downfall. 

The  education  of  the  female  should  harmonize  with  the 
essentials  of  reproduction.  The  limitations  due  to  these 
essentials  ought  not  to  be  lost  sight  of.  We  cannot  for- 
get that  the  majority  of  high  type  women  must  reproduce 
to  continue  the  superior  humanity  and  to  do  this  their 
information  and  ambition  must  be  for  creation  in  the 
child. 

This  limitation  is  the  only  one  to  consider  from  a 
purely  sexual  point  of  view. 

In  the  chapter  on  Sex  it  will  be  seen  that  man  is  totally 
incapable  of  performing  the  most  important  functions  of 
woman,  namely,  child-bearing  and  child-suckling,  and  is 
very  inferior  in  many  other  matters  generally  performed 
by  women,  such  as  the  care  of  children,  etc. 

So  woman  is  equally  unfitted  for  the  main  duties  of 
man.  While  some  women  are  capable  of  child-bearing, 
maintaining  a  home,  and  other  duties  pertaining  to  per- 
petuating the  race,  and  are  also  capable  of  achieving  dis- 


70  TASK'S  BY    TWILIGHT. 

tinction  in  art,  industry,  or  science,  the  great  mass  of 
women  are  not  thus  capable.  Women,  sound  on  the  re- 
productive question,  may  improve  the  race  by  improving 
their  faculties  in  the  outside  fight  to  be  transmitted  to 
their  children. 

There  are,  however,  occupations  which  under  no 
circumstances  should  be  followed  by  women,  and 
against  which  girls  should  be  warned.  All  occupations 
bringing  a  pressure  upon  virtue,  in  offering  temptation 
and  opportunity  for  sexual  prostitution,  are  of  this  class. 
Such  employments  as  those  of  restaurant  or  hotel  wait- 
resses and  chamber-maids,  bar-maids,  and  theatrical 
performers  are  bad.  The  theatre,  as  an  occupation  for 
women,  has  been  condemned,  directly  or  indirectly,  by 
nearly  every  moral  system  of  antiquity.  The  Roman  law, 
until  the  time  of  Justinian,  forbade  a  senator  or  a  distin- 
guished citizen  from  marrying  a  woman  of  the  theatre, 
and  ranked  them  with  common  harlots. 

The  Chinese  system  of  law  looks  on  the  theatre  as  so 
demoralizing  to  women,  that,  in  the  interest  of  morality, 
it  forbids  women  the  theatrical  stage,  and  places  actors 
in  the  lowest  of  its  social  classes.  Even  to  a  late  date 
in  England  female  parts  were  taken  by  boys,  as  they  still 
are  in  China.  So  general  a  condemnation  by  the  thinkers 
of  the  past  must  be  presumed  to  rest  on  some  foundation 
of  experience. 

In  educating  girls  these  general  facts  should  be  borne 
in  mind.  Girls  should  be  educated  first  in  such  matters 
as  pertain  to  their  principal  activities  in  life,  which  from 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  Jl 

necessity  are  connected  largely  with  the  home.  It  is  in 
the  home  that  the  woman  has  the  only  full  opportunity 
of  achieving  her  greatness  and  glory,  the  creation  of 
life.  As  the  husband  is  necessary  for  the  home,  it  be- 
comes important  first  to  obtain  one  and  second  to  hold 
him. 

For  the  first  object  a  general  familiarity  with  the  infor- 
mation commonly  given  to  girls  is  probably  advanta- 
geous, together  with  such  accomplishments  as  dancing, 
conversation,  and  music,  which  attract  the  man  to  the 
girl  in  social  gatherings.  It  must  be  said  here,  however, 
that  the  long  hours  of  practice  on  musical  instruments 
by  girls  not  gifted  in  music  is  a  clear  loss  of  time  and 
energy  without  any  compensation.  No  one  cares  to 
hear  often  an  indifferent  performer  strum  on  the  piano. 
Girls,  as  a  rule,  spend  many  hours  in  the  house,  to  the 
injury  of  their  health,  on  this  generally  useless  work, 
only  to  neglect  it  entirely  when  married. 

An  important  thing  in  this  connection  is  for  a  girl  to 
know  how  to  make  the  most  of  her  looks,  to  keep  her 
person  neat  and  clean,  dress  tastefully,  and  to  be  pos- 
sessed of  pleasing  manners.  Men  are  often  attracted  by 
hoydenish,  noisy,  and  immodest  women,  and  follow  them 
for  temporary  amusement,  but  no  good  man  that  is  good 
for  a  husband  to  perpetuate  life  is  ever  attracted  to  such 
a  woman  as  a  wife.  Occasionally,  however,  they  are 
trapped  into  marriage  by  one  of  this  type.  Every  young 
woman  therefore  should  be  taught  modesty  and  good 
breeding,  and  be  impressed  with  the  fact  that  any  success 


72  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

of  bad-mannered  women,  and  especially  of  immodest  or 
unwomanly  women,  can  only  be  either  temporary  with 
men  seeking  amusement,  or  with  men  lacking  character 
or  information,  who  will  not  make  good  husbands  and 
fathers.  Good  looks  attract,  but  it  is  the  charm  of  good 
manners  that  holds.  Beauty  is  the  beacon  that  brings 
the  beau,  but  it  is  manners  that  hot  from  the  heart 
may  singe  the  adventurer's  wings  so  that  he  flies  no 
farther. 

Do  not  misconstruethis  suggestion  into  the  advocacy  of 
a  cold  or  prudish  manner  for  girls.  A  girl  gains  greatly 
by  a  happy  help  to  some  smitten  swain,  too  diffident  to 
take  the  step  to  the  immortality  of  marriage  without  it. 

Observation  indicates  that  as  between  two  extremes,  a 
too  forward,  or  a  too  cold  manner,  the  forward  girl  will 
marry  where  the  cold  prude  hangs  on  the  parent  stem. 

While  the  first  too-flirty  girl  finishes  at  last  with  a 
renewed  life  in  a  happy  row  of  children  re-creations  of 
her  life,  the  over-proper  lady  closes  her  story  in  rooms 
of  a  boarding-house,  cheered  by  a  wheezy  pug,  a  parrot, 
or  a  well-fed  cat. 

Do  not  think,  on  the  other  hand,  that  flirting  or  im- 
proper risks  of  conduct  are  advised. 

But  between  the  frozen  pole  and  the  scorched  equator 
take  the  equator.  At  the  pole  life  is  dead,  at  the  equator, 
however  disadvantageous  or  disagreeable  it  may  be,  life 
does  go  on,  and  there  is  a  future. 

For  opportunities  in  meeting  men  eligible  as  husbands, 
girls  are  much  at  the  mercy  of  parental  care  and  their 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  73 

social  environment.  This  last  they  should  make  as  much 
as  possible  themselves.  The  friendships  of  youth  are 
formed  when  the  heart  is  plastic,  and,  as  a  rule,  are  both 
more  quickly  made  and  more  enduring  than  those  of 
riper  years.  A  girl  should  have  girl  friends,  and  these 
should  be  in  the  class  of  highest  mental  power,  or  attract- 
ing that  power  so  that  her  associations  as  a  young  lady 
will  be  naturally  with  it.  For  this  purpose  a  year  in  a 
fashionable  school  may  be  set  aside  and  sacrificed.  It 
is  worth  it  only  in  case  such  friendships  are  not  other- 
wise easily  attainable. 

As  far  as  obtaining  a  knowledge  of  those  things  com- 
monly supposed  important  is  concerned,  the  fashionable 
institute  is  inferior  to  the  public  school.  The  life,  man- 
ners, and  language  are  more  polished  and  polite  in  the 
first,  but  far  less  strong  and  sound  than  in  the  second. 

Perhaps  no  one  thing  attracts  a  good  man  so  much, 
especially  if  accompanied  by  social  accomplishments,  as 
a  taste  for  and  knowledge  of  domestic  duties  and  the 
economy  of  the  household.  Men  often  avoid  marriage 
on  account  of  their  fear  of  its  expense. 

It  is  therefore  a  strong  point  in  a  marriageable  young 
woman  to  not  only  dress  prettily,  but  to  avoid  all  extrav- 
agance. It  may  be  said  here  that  young  unmarried 
women  almost  invariably  look  best  when  simply  attired, 
if  there  be  but  a  little  taste  displayed  in  their  combina- 
tion of  colors  and  the  cut  of  their  clothing.  To  dress 
expensively  is  often  vulgar,  always  excites  the  envy  of 
the  small,  distracts  the  attention  from  the  person  to  the 


74  TASKS  BY    TWILIGtiT. 

clothes,  and  is  seldom  as  attractive  as  a  well-fitted,  taste- 
fully combined,  and  simple  dress. 

These  matters  are  preliminary  to  the  great  object  of 
life,  which  in  man  is  the  same  as  in  the  tree,  the  plant, 
and  in  the  animal  world.  The  main  object  is  reproduc- 
tion and  continuation  of  the  individual  and  of  the  species. 
But  these  preliminaries  leading  to  the  getting  of  a  good 
husband  are  of  importance,  indeed,  for  by  their  means, 
when  judiciously  employed,  the  girl  is  better  enabled  to 
do  her  part  in  reproduction,  and  to  enjoy  the  reward 
which  the  proper  performance  of  this,  the  greatest  func- 
tion of  woman,  can  give. 

In  little  girls  the  taste  for  motherhood  should  be  built 
up  by  dolls,  by  the  care  of  other  children,  and  by  any 
other  proper  means  that  may  be  thought  of.  The  body 
should  be  well  cared  for  and  developed  by  exercise. 
The  girl  should  have  also  occupations  of  a  useful  char- 
acter, so  as  to  promote  a  healthy,  moral  tone,  for  it  is 
idleness  that  breeds  abnormal  ideas,  premature  passion, 
and  thus  leads  to  vice. 

The  useful  occupations  should  be,  at  least  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  connected  with  household  duties.  A 
proper  understanding  and  a  proper  performance  of  do- 
mestic duties  will  tend  to  make  her  future  home  better 
regulated  and  happier  than  it  otherwise  would  be,  thus 
preparing  for  the  joy  and  contentment  of  the  future  hus- 
band and  children.  She  also  will  feel  the  goocl  effects 
in  after  years,  because  the  habit  of  domestic  work,  and 
the  consequent  interest  in  home  matters,  will  be  to 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  75 

the  wife  a  great  protection  against  loneliness  or  discfon- 
tent. 

The  second  reason  why  the  industries  should  largely 
take  this  direction  is  that  girls  cannot  be  turned  out  with 
any  safety  into  the  general  industries  of  the  world.  As 
has  been  explained  in  the  chapter  on  Sex,  the  penalty 
of  an  error  is  so  great  in  the  young  girl,  that  no  prudent 
parent  would  voluntarily  place  a  daughter  in  a  position 
where  she  would  be  exposed  to  the  temptations  which 
we  know  are  too  strong  for  the  great  majority  of  those 
who  are  subjected  to  them.  The  dangers  arising  also 
to  unprotected  girls,  in  large  cities,  is  a  matter  of  daily 
chronicle  in  our  courts.  These  chronicles  are,  from  all 
indications,  but  a  mere  surface-showing  of  the  extent 
to  which  such  practices  are  carried.  The  ruined  lives  of 
a  great  number  of  the  unfortunate  street-walkers  of  our 
cities  are  due  to  these  latter  causes. 

No  young  girl  should  be  left  in  ignorance  of  these 
dangers.  She  should  be  instructed  not  only  to  resist  se- 
duction, but  to  protect  herself  against  force.  A  woman 
who  will  do  all  she  can,  by  voice  and  act,  to  defend 
herself,  need  suffer  outrage  only  under  combinations  of 
circumstances  that  rarely  occur. 

No  one  should  fail  to  realize  that  the  drift  of  our  so- 
ciety, and  of  our  whole  industrial  system,  is  away  from 
family  life.  Home  industries  are  replaced  by  general 
production.  The  soap-making,  spinning,  making  of 
clothes,  etc.,  of  the  old  times  are  largely  things  of  the 
past  in  the  family.  Even  fruit-preserving  is  going  out 


76  TASKS  £V   TWILIGHT. 

of  the  home.  Women's  industries  in  the  old-time  homes 
were  large  and  comprehensive.  Women  in  this  industrial 
change  are  often  left  in  idleness,  or  forced  into  the  outer 
fight.  Woman's  increased  proportionate  contribution  in 
production  is,  however,  not  so  great  as  many  suppose. 
Here  is  a  difficulty  that  we  should  not  disguise  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  sound  family  life.  The  causes  of  the  family 
decay  at  present  so  prevalent  are  deep  seated  and  hard 
to  be  sure  of.  We  cannot  put  a  finger  on  them  with 
certainty.  The  growth  of  one  thing  out  of  another,  the 
interdependence  of  all  social  conditions  makes  it  as  dif- 
ficult to  appreciate  true  cause,  as  it  is  to  appreciate  the 
eventual  results.  Extinction  and  extermination  are  evi- 
dently the  results  in  store  for  many.  How  to  stem  this 
dark,  strong,  and  deep  current  toward  family-  and  race- 
death  is  what  we  must  try  for  in  the  education  of  the 
girl. 

Nothing  can  conduce  so  much  to  any  one's  success, 
as  to  be  well  prepared  for  the  destiny  that  awaits  them. 
The  destiny  of  woman  being  marriage,  she  should  be 
thoroughly  prepared  and  educated  for  its  duties,  before 
any  serious  invasion  of  her  time  or  vitality  should  be 
permitted  for  secondary  matters.  The  girl  should 
be  taught  the  facts  in  relation  to  her  own  body,  and 
especially  informed  as  to  the  care  required  at  coming 
to  the  age  of  puberty,  and  during  the  periods  of  men- 
struation. 

During  menstruation  the  rule  for  all  girls  should  be 
rest.  No  severe  mental  or  physical  efforts  should  be 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  77 

continued  at  this  time  ;  particular  attention  should  be 
given  to  seeing  that  the  girl  is  attending  to  the  regular 
elimination  of  excrementory  matter.  About  the  age  of 
puberty,  girls  become  sensitive,  and  are  ashamed  to 
attend  properly  to  these  duties.  Such  a  neglect  will 
almost  certainly  bring  more  or  less  suffering  in  its  wake. 
In  his  Diseases  of  Women,  Dr.  Alonzo  Thomas  gives 
his  experience  as  to  the  causes  of  women's  diseases  as 
follows  : 

"  Neglect  of  out-door  exercise. 

Excessive  development  of  the  nervous  system. 

Improprieties  of  dress. 

Imprudence  after  parturition. 

Prevention  of  conception  and  induction  of  abortion. 

Marriage  with  existing  uterine  disease." 

Dr.  Thomas  goes  on  to  say, 

"  Want  of  air  and  exercise,  in  deteriorating  the  blood  and  enfeeb- 
ling the  muscular  system,  should  be  classed  first  among  these  predis- 
posing causes.  .  .  . 

"  Excessive  Development  of  the  Nervous  System  :  The  necessity 
for  a  due  proportion  existing  between  the  development  and  strength 
of  the  nervous  and  muscular  systems  has  always  been  recognized,  and 
has  given  use  to  the  trite  formula  '  mens  san^  in  corpore  sano '  as 
essential  to  health." 

Girls  should  be  carefully  watched  to  prevent  undue 
nervous  development.  By  care,  such  a  tendency  can 
be  observed  early  in  life.  When  it  is  seen,  the  girl 
should  be  kept  out-doors  and  physically  busy  as  much  as 
possible,  and  mental  effort  should  be  kept  at  a  minimum. 

Dr.  Thomas   says, 

"Unfortunately  the  restless,  energetic,  and  ambitious  spirit  which 
actuates  the  people  of  the  United  States,  has  prompted  a  plan  of 


78  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

education,  which,  by  its  seventy,  creates  a  vast  disproportion  between 
these  two  systems,  nervous  and  muscular,  and  its  effects  are  more 
especially  exerted  upon  the  female  sex,  in  which  the  tendency  to 
such  loss  of  balance  is  much  more  marked  than  in  the  male.  Girls 
of  a  tender  age  are  required  to  apply  their  minds  too  constantly  to 
master  studies  which  are  too  difficult,  and  to  tax  their  intellects  by 
efforts  of  thought  and  memory  which  are  too  prolonged  and  labo- 
rious. The  results  are  rapid  development  of  brain  and  nervous  sys- 
tem, precocious  talent,  refined  and  cultivated  taste,  and  a  fascinating 
vivacity  on  the  one  hand  ;  a  morbid  impressibility,  great  feebleness 
of  muscular  system,  and  marked  tendency  to  disease  in  the  genera- 
tive organs  on  the  other. 

' '  Improprieties  of  Dress  :  The  dress  adopted  by  the  women  of 
our  times  may  be  very  graceful  and  becoming,  it  may  possess  the 
great  advantages  of  developing  the  beauties  of  the  figure  and  con- 
cealing its  defects,  but  it  certainly  is  conducive  to  the  development 
of  uterine  diseases,  and  proves  not  merely  a  predisposing  but  an 
exciting  cause  of  them." 

Dr.  Thomas  goes  on  to  say  that  excessive  constriction 
of  the  abdomen,  or  the  hanging  of  heavy  articles  of 
clothing  on  the  pelvis,  tend  to  displace  the  uterus  and 
produce  disease. 

Dr.  A.  Sargent  has  made  some  experiments  in  regard 
to  the  effects  of  tight  lacing  with  women.  The  follow- 
ing is  one  with  his  comments  : 

"In  order  to  ascertain  the  influence  of  tight  clothing  upon  the 
action  of  the  heart  during  exercise,  a  dozen  young  women  consented 
this  summer  to  run  540  yards,  in  their  loose  gymnasium  garments, 
and  then  to  run  the  same  distance  with  corsets  on.  The  running 
time  was  two  minutes  aud  thirty  seconds  for  each  person  at  each 
trial,  and  in  order  that  there  should  be  no  cardiac  excitement  or  de- 
pression following  the  first  test,  the  second  trial  was  made  the  fol- 
lowing day.  Before  beginning  the  running  the  average  heart  impulse 
was  84  beats  to  the  minute  ;  after  running  the  above-named  distance 
the  heart  impulse  was  152  beats  to  the  minute  ;  the  average  natural 
waist  girth  being  25  inches.  The  next  day  corsets  were  worn  during 


ECUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  79 

the  exercise,  and  the  average  girth  of  waist  was  reduced  to  24  inches. 
The  same  distance  was  run  in  the  same  time  by  all,  and  immediately 
afterward  the  average  heart  impulse  was  found  to  be  168  beats  per 
minute.  When  I  state  that  I  should  feel  myself  justified  in  advising 
an  athlete  not  to  enter  a  running  or  rowing  race  whose  heart  impulse 
was  1 60  beats  per  minute,  after  a  little  exercise,  even  though  there 
were  not  the  slightest  evidence  of  disease,  one  can  form  some  idea  of 
the  wear  and  tear  on  this  important  organ,  and  the  physiological  loss 
entailed  upon  the  system  in  women,  who  force  it  to  labor  for  over 
half  their  lives  under  such  a  disadvantage  as  the  tight  corset  imposes. " 

Dr.  Sargent's  extraordinary  success  in  getting  these 
young  women  to  run  a  certain  distance  in  exactly  the 
same  time  under  varying  conditions  cannot  escape  our 
comment.  His  evident  enmity  to  the  corset  has  made 
his  figures  somewhat  unreliable. 

The  lung  capacity  of  the  individual  woman  with 
corsets,  Sargent  shows  to  be  134  cubic  inches  ;  after 
taking  corsets  off,  167  cubic  inches  ;  gain  with  the  cor- 
sets off  33  cubic  inches.  The  effect  of  the  loss  of  so 
much  fresh  air  one  would  think  must  diminish  the 
physical  capacity  and  vitality  of  the  woman. 

Imprudence  during  menstruation,  Dr.  Thomas  says, 
is  a  prolific  source  of  disease.  Exposure  to  low  tempera- 
ture or  inclement  weather  during  this  period  should  be 
avoided.  Imprudence  after  parturition  he  specially 
counsels  against,  and  particularly  mentions  the  per- 
nicious habit  of  tight  bandaging  of  the  abdomen  :  a  well- 
fitting  bandage  only  tight  enough  to  give  support  he 
employs  himself,  as  a  source  of  comfort  to  the  woman. 
He  says  these  bandages  have  no  effect  in  preventing 
deterioration  of  the  figure, 


80  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

"  Prevention  of  Conception,  and  Induction  of  Abortion  :  Means 
established  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  first  of  these  ends  are  often 
productive  of  uterine  disorders.  This  will  not  be  wondered  at  when 
the  harshness  of  some  of  them  is  borne  in  mind.  The  workings  of 
nature  in  this,  as  in  all  physiological  processes,  are  too  perfect,  too 
accurately  and  delicately  adjusted,  not  to  be  interfered  with  materi- 
ally by  the  clumsy  and  inappropriate  measures  adopted  to  frustrate 
them. 

4<  The  practice  is  becoming  exceedingly  common,  as  every  physician 
is  aware  ;  so  common,  indeed,  that  in  the  older  portions  of  this 
country  (unfortunately  it  must  be  said  in  the  more  civilized  and 
educated )  it  is  by  no  means  usual  to  meet  with  large  families  of 
children. 

"  All  physicians  of  ability  and  standing  agree  that  prevention  of 
conception  and  abortion  afterwards  are  a  certain  source  of  disease." 

Dr.  Goodell  in    Lessons    on     Gynecology,    condemns 

these  practices  very  strongly,  as  injurious  both  to  the 

male   and    the  female.      He   uses    the   following    lan- 
guage : 

"  Such  then  are  my  views  upon  these  so-called  '  misery  checks ' 
and  '  common-sense  measures '  ;  and  I  feel  that  they  cannot  be  gain- 
said. I  dare  any  political  economist  to  show  me  one  innocuous 
expedient  whereby  conception  can  be  avoided.  I  challenge  him  to 
name  a  single  preventive  plan  which  will  not  do  damage  to  good 
health  or  to  good  morals.  Even  natural  sterility  is  a  curse  :  show  me 
a  house  without  children,  and,  ten  to  one,  you  show  me  an  abode 
dreary  in  its  loneliness,  disturbed  by  jealously  or  by  estrangement, 
distasteful  from  wayward  caprice  or  from  unlovable  eccentricity. 

"  Depend  upon  it,  gentlemen,  there  are  no  thornless  by-paths  by 
which  man  can  skulk  from  his  moral  and  physical  obligations  ;  no 
safe  Strategems  by  which  he  can  balk  God's  first  blessing  and  first 
command.  Therefore,  as  hygienists,  if  not  as  moralists  ;  as  phy- 
sicians, if  not  as  patriots  ;  as  guardians  of  the  public  health,  if  not 
as  philanthropists  ;  I  charge  you  to  frown  upon  such  practices  and 
take  a  bold  stand  against  them.  Else,  see  to  it  that  in  the  end  you 
are  not  held  to  a  strict  account  for  the  knowledge  you  have  this  day 
gained," 


EDUCATION   OF  GIRLS.  8 1 

The  opinion  of  reputable  physicians,  as  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  learn,  is  uniformly  that  measures  to  prevent 
conception  are  fraught  with  dangers  to  health,  and  that 
abortion  is  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  followed  by 
long  periods  of  suffering  and  ill-health.  The  concensus 
of  opinion  is  that  these  practices  shorten  life,  make 
what  they  leave  of  it  unhappy  and  sickly,  destroy  a 
complete  home-life,  undermine  character  and  morality, 
and  are  physically  and  financially  more  expensive  than 
childbearing. 

One  physician  has  called  my  attention  to  the  loss  of 
beauty,  both  in  body  and  expression,  by  married  women 
who  prevent  conception.  He  pointed  out  confidentially, 
several  instances  of  persons  known  to  us  both,  in  whom 
I  would  recognize  the  deterioration.  The  greatest  num- 
ber of  patients  seeking  relief  from  specialists  in  female 
diseases  owe  their  diseases  of  the  generative  organs  to 
means  used  for  the  prevention  of  childbirth.  That  these 
cautions  are  not  unnecessary  is  shown  by  the  works  of 
all  modern  medical  writers  on  female  diseases.  Accord- 
ing to  the  researches  of  the  Rev.  S.  W.  Dike,  secretary 
of  the  National  League  for  the  Reform  of  the  Divorce 
Laws,  fully  fifty  per  cent,  more  children  would  be  born 
to  American  mothers  in  Massachusetts  were  it  not  for 
these  practices. 

In  that  State  the  native  American  is  being  replaced  by 
foreign  races,  for  the  birth-rate  amongst  the  Americans 
is  in  many  places  less  than  the  death-rate. 

Dr.  Nathan  Allan  has  given  a  great  deal  of  attention 

6 


82  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

to  these  subjects.     In  his  pamphlet  on  Physical  Degen- 
eracy he   makes  the   following  remarks  : 

"  Again,  connected  with  this  weak  and  relaxed  state  of  the  muscu- 
lar tissue,  and  with  the  above-mentioned  effects  of  fashion  in  dress, 
has  sprung  up  a  class  of  very  grave  complaints  which  once  were  com- 
paratively unknown  in  our  country,  and  are  somewhat  peculiar  to 
American  women.  We  refer  particularly  to  weaknesses,  displace- 
ments, and  diseases  of  organs  located  in  the  pelvis.  Within  twenty 
or  thirty  years  there  have  been  not  only  marked  changes  in  the  type 
and  character  of  the  diseases  of  females  generally,  but  THIS  CLASS 
comparatively  new,  has  increased  wonderfully." 

No  one  but  a  medical  man,  who  has  devoted  special 
attention  to  this  subject,  can  realize  fully  the  nature 
and  extent  of  this  change,  and  understand  its  direful 
effects.  These  complaints  have  frequently  been  pro- 
duced, have  certainly  been  aggravated,  and  sometimes 
made  incalculably  worse,  by  the  various  means  and 
expedients  which  the  parties  have  resorted  to,  in  order 
to  interfere  with  or  thwart  the  great  laws  of  population. 
It  is  not  in  their  effects  upon  the  general  health,  that 
renders  them  so  important,  but  the  relations  which  they 
sustain  to  the  marriage  institution,  and  the  laws  of 
reproduction. 

Prof.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  M.D.,  LL.D.  etc.,  in  his 
Principles  and  Practice  of  Gynecology,  condemns  methods 
of  prevention  of  childbirth,  and  equally  condemns  the 
destruction  of  child-life  before  birth.  In  discussing 
the  effects,  pages  24  and  25,  he  says  : 

"  Can  any  one,  accustomed  to  treating  the  diseases  of  women,  say  in 
truth  the  statement  is  exaggerated,  that  we  see  on  any  one  day  more 
sorrow  and  misery  resulting  from  the  abuse  of  the  marriage  state,  than 
would  be  found  in  a  month  from  uncomplicated  child-bearing." 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  83 

The  effect  of  education  and  training  both  as  to  these 
practices  and  their  results  is  shown  by  the  Jews  and 
Catholics.  Amongst  this  class  of  the  population  pre- 
vention, abortion,  and  uterine  disease  are  alike  very 
rare.  Amongst  them  also  family  life  is  happier,  and 
divorces  fewer  than  in  the  general  community. 

Reason  enters  most  into  the  education  of  the  Jewish 
women,  and  superstition  most  into  that  of  the  Catholics 
on  these  questions.  In  either  case  the  result  is  the  same; 
large  families,  happy  homes,  and  a  supplanting  of  the 
population  not  sound  on  these  questions. 

It  must  be  noted,  however,  that  the  Jews  are  not  as 
sound  as  they  were,  and  that  the  Catholic  religion  does 
not  always  lead  to  the  results  we  see  in  America.  This 
can  be  observed  by  studying  the  vital  statistics  of  Cath- 
olic France.  The  method  of  perpetuation  of  their  fami- 
lies, and  of  education  of  their  women  practised  in  the 
royal  and  noble  families  of  Europe,  are  well  worthy  of 
observation.  The  effect  of  the  system  of  education  of 
the  women  in  the  royal  families  of  Europe  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  so  few  of  these  have  ever  been  unchaste, 
and  that  they  make  good  mothers.  The  royal  families 
of  Europe  have  been  able  to  resist  the  destructive  ten- 
dencies of  wealth,  better  than  the  families  of  the  rich 
commoners  in  the  same  countries.  Women  of  royal 
birth  who  have  created  scandal  by  their  conduct  may  be 
counted  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand.  The  desire  to  per- 
petuate their  race,  to  furnish  a  scion  to  carry  on  the 
name  and  power  of  their  family,  has  been  a  sufficient 


84  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

religion  to  make  them  good  and  true  women.  One  ele- 
ment in  this  system  is  the  care  given  to  parturient  women. 

Instinct  in  the  animal  world  is  more  and  more  largely 
replaced  in  man  by  the  reason  as  a  guide  to  action.  We 
find  animals  taking  care  of  their  young  by  instinct, 
biting  off  the  placenta,  washing  the  new-born  animal 
with  the  tongue,  providing  food  of  proper  kinds,  or 
suckling  them,  etc.  All  this  without  any  previous  indi- 
vidual experience  or  knowledge,  doing  their  duty  by 
instinct.  In  man  this  instinct  has  become  weak  as  to 
details,  or  has  never  developed  with  their  new  necessities 
in  civilization.  Thus  a  midwife,  a  doctor,  or  a  mother 
must  be  taught  what  to  do  in  order  to  make  the  birth 
of  the  babe  safe  and  its  subsequent  care  proper.  We 
may  say  positively,  that  while  the  instincts  leading  to 
creation  and  the  love  and  devotion  to  the  babe  are  strong 
in  every  normally  constituted  woman,  the  instinctive 
knowledge  of  what  to  do  in  detail,  say  as  we  see  in  the 
cow,  is  practically  absent. 

Young  mothers,  in  default  of  a  sound  education  on  these 
points,  often  lose  or  injure  their  first  children  and  also 
injures  themselves.  The  result  is  sometimes  too  little 
attention  for  the  babe,  and  perhaps,  more  of  ten,  too  much 
attention  that  is  harmful.  Thus  exhausting  labor  is  done, 
not  only  useless  but  positively  harmful  to  both  mother 
and  child. 

A  girl  should  be  taught  the  care  of  children  by  practice 
and  of  herself  during  the  period  of  gestation.  It  is  not 
the  custom  to  teach  girls  these  subjects,  but  the  error  of 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  85 

this  may  be  suspected  when  we  consider  the  general  fact 
that  girls,  members  of  large  families,  make  better  wives 
and  mothers  than  girls  w*ho  have  grown  up  without  this 
incidental  instruction  in  child-  and  self-care  which  a  large 
family  necessarily  gives.  There  may  be  some  objection  to 
giving  such  information  on  the  ground  of  modesty.  This 
point  is  discussed  in  the  chapter  on  Education.  It  is  an 
objection  that,  however  well  founded  when  religious  dog- 
mas commanded  our  obedience  and  when  physiological 
information  was  imperfect,  has  no  good  and  reasonable 
support  now. 

It  cannot  be  slurred  over  in  recommending  this  rather 
radical  frankness  that  civilized  people,  as  a  rule,  leave  their 
young  in  ignorance  as  to  the  reproductive  functions  as 
long  as  they  can.  We  would  not  be  wise  to  overthrow  so 
general  a  rule  without  sound  reason. 

Lately  we  have  become  acquainted  with  the  demon- 
strable physical  injury  done  the  individual  by  the  abuse 
of  these  functions.  Those  who  favored  ignorance  on 
these  points,  and  who  have  made  and  upheld  our  custom  of 
silence  in  regard  to  them,  had  no  such  information.  Con- 
sequently silence  in  their  case  and  the  dark  closet  may  be 
presumed  to  have  been  advantageous.  It  is  of  course 
true  that  so  overmastering  an  instinct  as  that  of  reproduc- 
tion would  occasionally  break  out  and  rush  into  the  light. 
Then,  dazzled  and  lost  in  the  sudden  illumination  of  a 
banked-fire  bursting  into  flame,  would  rush  into  an  effron- 
tery of  excess  or,  shamefaced  but  curious,  slink  behind  the 
commode  for  some  further  knowledge  of  the  mystery. 


86  TASKS  BY    TWILIGHT. 

When,  besides  this  new  and  morality-teaching  informa- 
tion we  are  able  to  offer  to  the  young  an  improvement  of 
self  in  the  child,  an  immortality  of  the  physical  self  in 
procreation,  and  to  demonstrate  the  injury  to  the  repro- 
ductive power  of  abuse  or  excess  or  wrong  of  any  kind, 
nay,  more,  the  prospect  under  such  conduct  of  extermina- 
tion and  of  a  complete  and  everlasting  death  as  far  as  any 
demonstration  goes,  we  certainly  offer  a  motive  for  purity 
such  as  has  never  existed.  In  the  vista  of  our  morality 
lies  perfection  and  eternity. 

With  these  changed  conditions  silence  instead  of  a  sup- 
port is  a  weakness.  We  need  not  fear  light  and  knowl- 
edge, when  every  ray  of  light  and  every  bit  of  knowledge 
is  an  additional  information  on  the  advantage  of  morality 
for  the  greatest  greatness,  Immortality  in  the  Child. 

If  a  young  woman  comes  to  marriage  and  maternity 
with  no  knowledge  of  her  creative  powers,  and  no  practi- 
cal knowledge  of  the  care  of  babies  and  children',  she 
acquires  this  information  by  her  own  experience.  At  this 
late  date  the  knowledge  thus  acquired  must  be  at  the 
expense  of  herself,  the  husband,  and  the  child.  Her 
ignorance  will  endanger  the  unity  of  the  marriage  relation, 
the  happiness  of  herself  and  husband,  her  bodily  health, 
and  the  life  of  her  first  children.  It  is  probably  no  exag- 
geration to  say  that  one  half  of  the  unhappy  marriages 
which  pain  so  much  every  thoughtful  person  are  due  to  the 
ignorance  of  the  wife,  the  husband,  or  both.  Probably  two 
thirds  of  the  deaths  of  children  between  birth  and  the 
second  year  are  due  to  the  ignorance  of  the  mother. 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  8/ 

The  treatment  by  young  mothers  of  their  first  children 
is  often  so  absurd  that  it  excites  laughter  in  spite  of  one's 
pity  for  the  poor  little  ones.  There  must  be  also  a  very 
large  percentage  of  the  ill-health,  of  young  women  and 
mothers  which  is  due  to  their  ignorance  of  themselves, 
and  of  the  processes  of  nature  to  which  they  are  subject. 

The  value  and  importance  of  motherhood,  its  necessity 
for  the  perpetuation  for  her  and  her  husband's  life,  its 
value  as  a  hold  upon  her  husband,  as  filling  the  declining 
years  of  life  with  happiness,  and  as  a  means  of  maintain- 
ing and  prolonging  health  and  life  in  the  mother  herself, 
should  be  the  one  thing  constantly  kept  in  sight  in  the 
education  of  girls. 

To  have  children  is  natural — not  to  have  children  is 
unnatural.  To  be  natural — that  is,  to  follow  what  we  call 
the  laws  of  nature — is  to  follow  the  path  of  least  resistance 
in  life,  and  therefore  to  accomplish  the  greatest  results 
with  the  least  effort.  To  follow  any  unnatural  course 
must  cause  a  great  deal  more  friction  than  would  other- 
wise be  the  case. 

From  these  considerations  we  can  understand  why  it  is 
that  married  women  have  a  better  prospect  of  life  than 
unmarried  ones,  and  that  childbirth,  instead  of  increasing 
the  death-rate  amongst  women,  diminishes  it. '  It  is 

1  The  great  insurance  companies  now  making  an  active  canvass  for 
women's  life  insurance  have  established  rates  on  the  best  figures  attain- 
able. Their  investigations  on  American  and  English  figures  give 
women  bearing  children  the  best  prospect  of  life.  They  explain  it  in 
figures  by  charging  the  childless  woman,  single  or  married,  five  dollars 
a  thousand  more  than  the  mother. 


88  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

unfortunate  that  there  are  no  statistics  as  to  effects  of 
childbirth  in  marriage  itself.  But  there  are  some  side 
lights  which  give  indications  on  this  subject.  Fifty  years 
ago  such  a  thing  as  the  prevention  of  childbirth  in  respect- 
able families  in  this  country  was  practically  unknown. 
Abortions  were  rare.  At  that  period  the  general  sanitary 
conditions  in  which  women  lived  were  much  inferior  to 
what  they  are  now.  The  general  death-rate,  and  conse- 
quently the  total  amount  of  sickness  under  similar  con- 
ditions, was  much  greater  then  than  now.  At  that  time 
such  a  thing  as  a  gynecological  chair  in  a  doctor's  office 
in  general  practice  was  a  curiosity.  It  is  now  the  rule 
rather  than  the  exception. 

The  peculiar  diseases  and  weaknesses  to  which  women 
are  now  so  subject  were  very  little  known  thirty  years 
ago.  These  things  all  point  in  one  direction  ;  that  is, 
while  the  general  health  of  the  community  has  improved, 
the  health  of  married  women  has  retrograded.  This 
retrogression,  as  far  as  I  am  informed,  is  largely  confined 
to  the  reproductive  organs,  or  to  secondary  effects  arising 
from  disorders  in  these  functions. 

We  thus  see  not  only  specialists  for  the  diseases  of 
women,  but  we  also  find  the  gynecological  chair  becom- 
ing an  article  of  furniture  in  the  office  of  the  general 
practitioner. 

With  this  diminution  in  the  health  of  women,  we  also 
find  a  diminution  in  the  average  number  of  children  they 
bear.  This  diminution  of  health  and  of  children  is  pre- 
sumably due  to  a  common  cause — which  is  the  artificial 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  89 

prevention  of  childbearing.  The  object  of  these  vile 
practices  is  to  avoid  pain  and  trouble.  Instead  of  accom- 
plishing this  purpose,  it  will  thus  be  seen  that  a  contrary 
result  has  been  brought  about.  Instead  of  less  pain  and 
trouble,  these  practices  cause  more  suffering.  But  this 
fact  in  reference  to  the  physical  results  of  these  practices 
is  only  a  small  part  of  the  truth.  The  absence  of  children 
in  a  family,  and  especially  their  absence  through  artificial 
causes — means,  as  we  have  seen,  increased  sickness  on  the 
part  of  the  wife,  and  therefore  a  diminished  inclination 
and  capacity  for  performing  her  other  duties  as  wife. 
The  hold  on  the  husband  weakens,  the  pleasures  and 
glory  of  motherhood  are  past,  and  desertion  or  divorce  is 
too  often  the  ending  of  all  chances  to  happiness. 

The  beauty  alike  of  complexion,  expression,  and  youth 
is  longer  maintained  in  the  mother  than  in  the  fruitless. 
Childless  wives,  or  those  who,  having  one  or  two  chil- 
dren, prevent  or  destroy  further  conceptions,  as  a  rule 
have  a  drawn,  pallid,  and  tired  look.  Premature  old  age 
stamps  them  for  this  error,  and  they  lose  at  once  the 
glories  of  immortality  in  the  child,  and  their  beauties  and 
attractions  as  individuals  in  the  to-day. 

The  life  of  no  animal  or  plant  is  complete  without  the 
flower,  fruit,  and  seed.  It  is  the  reproductive  moment  in 
life  which  is  the  glory  of  all  living  things.  Man  is  no 
exception  to  this  rule,  but,  rather,  being  the  highest  pin- 
nacle of  the  wonderful  complexity  of  life  in  the  world,  is 
also  the  most  glorious  in  his  reproductive  moments. 
Sterility  in  man  takes  from  him  all  possibilities  of  a  happy 


90  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

or  complete  life,  and  leaves  him  to  sink  at  last  in  a  miser- 
able, lonely,  and  abject  death.  From  these  reasons  it 
must  be  evident  that  the  Bible  statement  of  the  reproach 
to  women,  which  sterility  was,  is  pre-eminently  true.  It  is, 
from  every  consideration,  a  misfortune  and  a  disgrace  for 
a  married  woman  to  be  without  children.  For  every  true 
man,  it  cannot  but  be  a  continual  matter  of  regret  to  have 
a  childless  wife.  So  the  rule  has  been  laid  down  for  the 
government  of  my  family,  that  any  woman  coming  into  it 
as  a  wife,  who  has  no  children  within  a  reasonable  period, 
must  be  cast  out.  For  all  the  intents  and  purposes  of 
life,  for  all  the  intents  and  purposes  of  marriage — she  is 
no  more  a  woman  than  a  eunuch  would  be.  She  might 
as  well  be  a  block  of  wood  cut  in  the  semblance  of  the 
female. 

No  matter  what  advance  women  may  make,  and  no 
matter  what  turn  evolution  may  take  in  regard  to  the 
position  of  the  sexes,  as  long  as  we  have  death  together 
with  life  we  must  have  reproduction  ;  and  as  the  impres- 
sions of  youth  are  the  most  permanent  and  lasting,  the 
best  manner  of  securing  the  performance  of  the  reproduc- 
tive function  should  be  taught  boys  and  girls  from  the  first. 

The  object  of  accentuating  this  subject  so  much  in  this 
chapter  is  that  the  so-called  higher  and  better  education, 
at  this  time  prevailing,  leaves  these  matters  altogether  out 
of  sight,  and  with  girls  tends  to  the  creation  of  habits  of 
thought  and  ambitions  inconsistent  with  maternity.  The 
highest  education  of  the  female  to-day  points  her  for  the 
grand  prizes  of  life,  to  the  outer  struggle  of  the  world  ; 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  91 

whereas  the  grand  prize  of  life  for  either  man  or  woman 
is  the  Child— the  child  better  mentally  and  physically 
than  the  parent. 

From  the  peculiar  necessities  of  the  case,  the  woman 
has  by  far  the  greatest  influence  of  the  two  sexe$  upon 
the  child.  She  has  also  a  greater  amount  of  time  and 
energy  to  devote  to  producing  and  caring  for  it.  Her 
influence  upon  the  child  arises  from  the  necessity  of  her 
care  for  it.  The  time  and  life  energy  she  devotes  to  the 
child  indelibly  imprints  her  influence  upon  it. 

No  education  of  the  girl  can  by  any  possibility  be  good 
that  neglects  these  most  important  of  all  subjects.  To 
educate  a  woman  and  make  no  allusion  to  reproduction, 
to  marriage,  and  childbirth,  would  be  like  a  description  of 
the  heavens  without  mentioning  the  sun. 

There  are  two  classes  of  men  who  see  a  great  deal  of 
nude  women — artists  and  physicians.  Artists  see  women 
as  models.  As  a  rule  art  is  not  conducive  to  morality, 
artists  being  notably  rather  loose  on  sexual  matters.  Phy- 
sicians, on  the  other  hand,  make,  as  a  general  thing,  ex- 
ceptionally good  husbands  and  fathers,  and,  with  all  their 
opportunities  with  foolish  women,  seldom  fall  away  in 
morals,  certainly  not  more  often  than  the  average  man  as 
far  as  common  opinion  goes.  This  difference  in  these 
two  occupations  goes  to  show  that  nature  known  to 
the  full,  as  it  is  by  physicians,  is  not  liable  to  mislead, 
while  nature  seen  on  the  outside,  with  the  glamour  of 
secret  meetings,  is  on  the  contrary  a  temptation  to  error. 
Therefore  the  whole  of  nature  should  be  taught. 


92  TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 

There  are  two  races  of  people  only  who  have  made,  and 
continue  to  make,  the  bearing  of  children  a  matter  of 
the  first  importance.  Equally  there  are  but  two  races  of 
people  who  have  maintained  their  recognizable  unity 
through  the  ages  of  time  since  we  first  heard  of  them. 
These  two  races  are  the  Chinese  and  the  Hebrews. 
Consider  well  this  fact — of  all  the  brilliant  civilizations  of 
Assyria,  Egypt,  Tyre,  Carthage,  Greece,  Rome,  not  one 
has  left  a  recognizable  people  to  perpetuate  its  greatness. 
But  the  Jewish  people  and  the  Chinese  people  maintain 
their  vitality  and  force  to  this  day. 

The  main  point  in  the  religion  of  the  Chinese  is,  that 
the  future  happiness  of  man  in  another  world  depends  on 
having  a  son  to  maintain  certain  sacrifices  to  his  spirit 
after  death.  This  principle  having  been  maintained  from 
the  early  times  to  this  day,  the  race  has  been  able  to  hold 
its  individuality  in  spite  of  famine  or  plenty,  defeat  or 
victory.  While  certain  causes  have  arrested  the  develop- 
ment of  its  civilization,  the  race  is  ready  at  any  time 
for  an  advance,  whereas  many  civilized  people  without 
this  safeguard  have  disappeared  forever,  and  been 
replaced  by  barbarous  clans  who  were  sound  on  the 
question  of  reproduction. 

The  Jewish  domestic  life  is  admirable.  Few  of  their 
women  fall  into  the  horrible  impasse  of  a  life  of  shame. 
Married  life  with  them  is  more  generally  happy  than 
among  any  of  the  peoples  with  whom  they  reside. 
The  cardinal  point  of  marriage  with  Jews  is  children, 
and  the  proper  care  and  rearing  of  them.  Rachael  cried 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  93 

"Give  me  children  or  I  die."  Thus  though  at  fault 
in  some  things,  and  scattered  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven, 
the  Jews  by  this  intimate  regard  for  reproduction  have 
perpetuated  themselves  from  immemorial  time,  and  have 
seen  one  civilized  people  after  another  die  and  dis- 
appear. 

The  lesson  from  these  two  races  is  that  a  people  sound 
on  the  question  of  reproduction  may  consider  all  errors 
on  other  questions  as  venial,  for  they  may  be  cured  by 
time.  Without  reproduction  there  is  but  one  outcome, 
permanent  death  to  the  race. 

Reproduction  is  therefore  the  one  and  only  thing  to 
which  everything  else  should  be  sacrificed. 

I  refrain  from  laying  down  any  details  in  the  education 
of  girls.  Such  a  course  might  lead  to  the  obscuring  of  the 
great  principle  of  reproduction  which  I  wish  to  leave 
clear  and  comprehensible.  There  is,  however,  one  cau- 
tion to  be  considered  in  the  method  of  education  men- 
tioned long  ago.  The  translator  of  the  wise  Bishop 
Lugnon  says :  "  Do  not  allow  your  daughters  to  be 
taught  letters  by  a  man  though  he  be  a  St.  Paul  or  a  St. 
Francis  of  Assissium — the  saints  are  in  Heaven." 

The  caution  is  probably  against  the  old  method  of 
the  well-to-do  to  educate  their  daughters  separately 
and  privately.  In  this  case  they  would  necessarily  be 
much  thrown  with  their  instructor,  often  perhaps  alone. 
If  this  be  a  correct  interpretation,  the  old  Bishop  was 
wise  and  his  advice  should  be  followed. 

Girls  should  be  educated  as  highly  in  body  and  mind 


94  TASKS  BY    TWILIGHT. 

as  possible.  They  should  be  made  as  self-reliant  and  as 
strong  as  possible. 

All  things,  however,  should  be  made  and  explained  to 
be  secondary,  and  mere  incidents  of  the  great  duty  and 
glory  of  woman — which  is  reproduction,  and  not  only 
reproduction,  but  reproduction  with  improvement. 

A  wife  without  children  can  never  be  sure  of  her  hus- 
band, for  the  tie  that  holds  them  together  in  sterility  is 
purely  artificial.  The  natural  tie  is  the  inseparable  union 
of  the  two  lives  in  the  offspring.  The  vows  of  marriage 
are  based  on  the  necessity  of  giving  to  man  a  security  in 
the  paternity  of  his  children  which  would  be  impossible 
without  chastity  on  the  part  of  his  wife.  But  the  marriage 
license,  the  marriage  ring,  and  the  marriage  vow  do  not 
make  the  bond.  The  real  union  is  the  child.  The  cir- 
cumstance and  ceremony  of  marriage,  which  differ  with 
different  peoples  and  religions,  are  but  the  devices  of  man 
to  make  reliable  and  certain  to  the  male  and  female, 
through  the  security  of  paternity,  the  only  true  bond, 
that  is  the  child,  in  which  both  lives  unite. 

Girls  should  be  trained  to  the  truth  that  by  labor  alone 
can  they  hope  for  health.  Health  of  body,  of  mind,  and 
of  morals  comes  by  work.  To  have  health  in  full  the  in- 
dividual must  use  her  faculties  and  muscles,  and  perform 
the  functions  of  nature,  the  principle  of  which  is  repro- 
duction. 

The  work  of  the  girl,  from  the  necessity  of  her  nature, 
must  in  nearly  all  cases  be  limited  somewhat  as  to  the 
kind  and  to  the  place  where  performed. 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  95 

As  to  the  kind,  from  the  reasons  set  forth  in  the  chap- 
ter on  Sex  ;  and  as  to  place,  on  account  of  the  necessity 
of  maintaining  the  girl's  virginity  before  marriage,  and  of 
securing  the  paternity  of  the  offspring  to  the  husband 
afterward. 

The  same  exposure  to  temptation  and  violence  cannot, 
as  a  rule,  be  risked  with  girls  as  with  boys.  We  are  there- 
fore led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  energies  and  capacities 
of  the  girl,  at  least  before  her  character  is  matured,  should 
be  developed  in  the  home. 

Without  reflection  it  might  be  thought  that  this  limita- 
tion would  preclude  the  full  development  of  the  girl's 
brain  by  high  scientific  study.  No  such  necessity,  how- 
ever, exists.  Besides  the  possibility  of  bringing  any 
science  into  the  home,  the  home  duties  themselves  for 
their  perfect  performance  demand  science  and  study,  and 
to-day  give  quite  as  much  opportunity  for  original  re- 
search and  discovery  as  any  other  occupation. 

The  sanitary  arrangements,  ventilation,  and  drainage 
of  the  home,  are  of  vital  importance,  and  no  mind  is  too 
mighty  to  be  occupied  with  these  questions.  For  in- 
stance, in  the  matter  of  ventilation,  the  Foundling  Hos- 
pital in  London  and  the  Monkey  House  in  the  Zoological 
Gardens  of  the  same  city  had  some  years  ago  a  new 
system  of  ventilation  applied  in  them.  The  result  was  a 
reduction  of  the  mortality  of  the  children  and  of  the 
monkeys  about  one  half  ;  the  reduction  being  specially 
noticeable  in  lung  diseases,  consumption,  etc. 

Cooking  is  a  science.     Good  cooking  is  the  putting  of 


g6  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

food  through  at  least  a  partial  digestion,  and  the  combina- 
tion of  one  or  more  kinds  of  it  into  an  agreeable  and 
advantageous  dish. 

Food  while  being  cooked  undergoes  chemical  changes. 
These  changes  should  facilitate  digestion.  Part  of  the 
mechanical  and  chemical  work  necessary  to  the  assimila- 
tion of  man's  food  is  now  done  in  the  kitchen. 

Owing  to  the  ignorance  of  our  housekeepers  as  to  the 
fundamental  principles  of  cooking,  its  chemistry,  etc., 
our  kitchen  work  is  done  at  the  best  imperfectly,  and 
often  the  cooking  instead  of  improving  the  digestibility 
of  the  food  impairs  it. 

The  economy  of  the  diet  is  likewise  a  science.  Man 
requires  at  frequent  intervals  food  to  replenish  the  waste 
of  his  system,  and  in  early  life  to  provide  for  growth. 
According  to  the  use  of  muscle  or  brain,  of  force  in 
resisting  cold  or  heat,  and  to  many  other  things,  man's 
requirements  for  food  vary.  So  what  would  be  an  eco- 
nomical diet  under  one  condition  would  be  an  exceedingly 
expensive  one  under  another.  Not,  perhaps,  in  money, 
but  economical  or  expensive  in  the  expenditure  of  vital 
force  in  securing  the  requisite  nourishment  for  the  body. 

The  appetite  is  the  guide  our  instinct  gives  us.  At  the 
Arctic  Circle  we  crave  fats  and  heat-producing  foods, 
while  in  the  tropics,  condiments  to  stimulate  the  sluggish 
secretions,  together  with  cooling  fruits  and  farinaceous 
diets,  are  what  we  generally  desire. 

But  in  most  households  the  appetite  is  more  servant  to 
the  cook  than  the  cook  is  servant  to  the  appetite.  Were 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  97 

this  not  so  it  is  still  true  that  experience,  on  which  the 
instinct  of  appetite  is  built,  was  had  by  the  race  largely 
before  the  cooking  of  food  took  its  present  development. 
It  seems  therefore  but  reasonable  to  think  that  scientific 
study,  combining  the  facts  found  in  experience,  would 
enable  us  at  once  to  enjoy  our  food  more,  and  by  diminish- 
ing the  energy  required  at  present  to  digest  it,  would 
liberate  so  much  more  force  to  the  improvement  of  the 
race. 

To  arrange  a  well-combined  meal,  one  at  once  agree- 
able and  containing  the  proper  amount  of  phosphates, 
nitrogens,  carbons,  etc.  required  by  the  activities,  climatic 
situations,  etc.,  of  any  individual,  and  at  the  same  time  not 
overload  his  stomach  with  useless  work,  is  an  art. 

It  is  most  probable  that  a  meal  has  never  been  eaten 
that  was  economically  perfect,  that  is,  that  contained  just 
the  requisite  portion  of  nourishment  of  each  variety 
required  without  an  excess  of  any.  The  feeding  of  chil- 
dren is  equally  an  important  subject  of  study. 

The  decoration  of  the  home  offers  a  wide  scope  for 
artistic  taste,  and  other  things  such  as  music,  etc.  may  be 
highly  developed. 

The  science  of  reproduction,  the  most  important  with 
which  mankind  has  to  deal,  as  has  been  said,  is  eminently 
an  appropriate,  nay,  a  necessary  study  in  the  home.  The 
whole  of  Anatomy  and  Medicine  are  not  too  much  for  this 
one  study.  To  properly  bear  children,  to  care  for  one- 
self or  others  before  and  after  childbirth,  to  preserve  the 
lives  of  the  new-born,  and  to  bring  them  through  many 


98  TASK'S  BY   TWILIGHT. 

dangers  to  be  fathers  and  mothers  again,  these  are  things 
of  the  greatest  import.  Every  one  should  understand 
them. 

Give,  when  possible,  a  reward  for  work.  In  the  first 
place,  this  gives  play  to  the  desire  to  do  something,  gen- 
erally found  in  the  young,  and  connects  efforts  with  results 
gratifying  to  the  individual  by  motives  of  self-interest.  In 
the  second  place,  there  is  in  this  method  an  opportunity  to 
teach  girls  the  relation  of  the  circulating  medium  to  their 
own  work,  and  to  the  purchase  of  that  of  others.  The 
value  of  money  is  often  never  understood  by  women.  The 
result  of  this  is  usually  undue  friction  in  the  home,  through 
bad  economy  in  some  directions  and  wasteful  extravagance 
in  others.  A  girl  should  therefore  receive  a  reward  for 
labor,  and  should  be  taught  to  use  such  pay  for  the  pur- 
chase of  those  things  she  needs  and  desires  ;  and,  further, 
should  be  given  commissions  to  purchase  those  things  the 
parents  supply  for  her  beyond  her  own  means  and  also  in 
general  matters.  Due  care  must  be  taken  not  to  drown 
family  affection  with  too  cold  a  flood  of  business.  The 
error,  however,  is  so  universally  in  the  other  direction,  that 
the  caution  seems  hardly  necessary. 

The  mind  of  a  child  is  immature  ;  while  more  amenable 
to  truth  and  reason  than  to  anything  else,  it  becomes 
easily  tired  and  discouraged.  Ignorance  seizes  the  imagi- 
nation, and  paints  so  gorgeously  the  unknown,  as  to  leave 
the  present  life  dull  and  tame  by  contrast.  Therefore, 
you  should  enlist  self-interest  not  only  in  the  often  unap- 
preciated and  distant  future,  but  in  the  to-day.  Give  small 


EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS.  99 

wages  for  cooking  or  other  household  work,  or  rewards  of 
some  kind  as  spurs  to  effort. 

It  is  wise  also  to  show  the  girl  the  hollowness  that  lies 
behind  the  gaudy  tints  of  romance.  Imagination  generally 
deals  largely  with  wealth.  It  will  not  be  difficult  to  show 
the  girl  the  emptiness  of  mere  money.  Take  her  behind 
the  scenes  of  the  rich  woman's  existence  so  that  she  can 
see  the  truth  for  herself. 

While  a  young  man  I  spent  some  time  on  the  then  wild 
western  plains,  in  a  geological  expedition.  We  lived  in 
tents,  slept  on  the  ground  in  blankets,  lived  on  bacon  and 
hard-tack  with  beans  and  game  as  occasional  luxuries,  and 
worked  hard,  often  rising  at  three  or  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  to  commence  our  journeys.  I  look  back  to  no 
period  of  my  unmarried  life  with  more  pleasure,  or  as 
having  been  happier.  I  have  always  remembered  this  as 
a  comment  on  the  part  wealth  plays  in  happiness.  In  this 
connection  Colton's  saying  should  be  remembered.  I 
quote  from  memory  : 

"  In  estimating  the  value  of  money  two  things  should 
not  be  forgotten  :  ist,  that  there  are  some  things  that 
money  cannot  buy  and  those  the  best ;  2d,  that  there  are 
some  evils  that  money  cannot  avert  and  those  the  worst." 

It  may  be  even  well  to  show  her  under  safeguards  the 
misery  and  degradation  of  a  prostitute's  life.  When  one  of 
these  at  a  certain  age  has  come  to  drink,  no  more  speak- 
ing sermon  for  virtue  could  be  made  than  the  spectacle 
of  her,  in  her  drunken  and  dirty  disgrace. 

The  life  of  girls  brought  up  at  home  has  but  one  dis- 


100  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

advantage, — the  lack  of  opportunity  through  experience 
and  contest  to  develop  self-reliance  and  character.  This 
being  the  weak  point,  much  energy  should  be  devoted  to 
counteracting  it,  not,  however,  by  endangering  the  value  of 
the  home-life  which  creates  the  weakness,  but  by  throw- 
ing responsibilities  on  the  girl  at  every  good  opportunity 
and  by  such  other  means  as  may  be  thought  of.  Under 
proper  safeguards  the  young  girl  should  be  given  large 
Opportunity  to  become  acquainted  with  and  used  to  the 
presence  of  young  men. 

The  French  system  of  strict  surveillance  and  seclusion 
of  girls  until  marriage  has  not  been  satisfactory.  French 
wives  are  not  prolific,  nor  are  they  noted  for  virtue. 
Novels  are  usually  somewhat  of  a  criterion  of  the  morals 
of  those  who  read  them.  Judging  by  this  standard  the 
French  are  not  particularly  pure  in  wedlock.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  extreme  New  England  system  of  license 
to  young  people  before  marriage  is  equally  devoid  of 
advantage  in  securing  morality  or  progeny.  A  reasonable 
medium  is  what  is  required.  A  girl  brought  up  with  a 
knowledge  of  herself,  imbued  with  the  religion  of  child- 
bearing,  and  acquainted  with  the  necessity  of  purity  in 
securing  the  devotion  of  a  husband,  the  father  of  her 
future  children,  must  acquire  additional  dignity  of  char- 
acter. As  she  knows  the  tremendous  importance  of  her 
destiny  as  a  mother,  a  perpetuator  and  improver  of  her- 
self and  of  her  race,  so  will  she  guard  her  virtue  and  repu- 
tation so  essential  to  make  her  destiny  grand. 


THOUGHTS. 

THE  arch  that  bears  up  society  in  its  progress  has,  as 
all  arches  have,  a  foundation  at  each  end.  On  one 
side  is  matrimony,  giving  the  security  of  the  paternity  to 
children,  and  on  the  other  side  is  the  security  of  enjoying 
the  results  of  labor  or  the  security  of  property.  Both 
of  these  foundations  have  been  called  on  to  support  off- 
shoots not  in  the  line  of  the  arch  as  a  matter  of  beauty  or 
as  a  matter  of  strength.  On  the  matrimonial  side  such 
aberrations  as  the  guarding  and  imprisonment  of  women 
of  the  polygamous  Turks.  On  the  property  side  such 
errors  as  the  creation  of  monopolies  and  the  inequitable 
distribution  of  wealth. 

The  progress  of  man  involves  differentiation,  the  ca- 
pacity to  improve  on  what  has  gone  before,  and  requires 
necessarily  that  some  individuals  should  surpass  other 
individuals  around  them.  Nature  provides  for  this  by 
making  every  living  being  different  from  every  other. 
Some  therefore  must  be  superior  to  others  or  inferior  to 
others,  or  more  commonly,  both  superior  to  some  and 
inferior  to  some. 

Mediocre  qualitied  mankind  has  ever  an  intense  jeal- 
ousy of  this  superiority,  which  is  decreed  by  nature. 

Mediocrity  carps  at  greatness.  It  recognizes  great- 
101 


102  TALKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

ness  only  under  compulsion.  Everlastingly  it  repeats  to 
its  littleness  a  denial  and  skepticism  of  superiority.  When 
it  catches  a  great  man  slipping  or  falling,  it  always  satis- 
fies its  repressed  feeling  by  pushing  him  down  or  jump- 
ing on  his  prostrate  reputation.  Mediocrity  so  much 
hates  greatness  that  it  will  even  kick  the  dead. 

Superiority  and  Inferiority  fortunately,  when  they  know 
themselves,  have  none  of  this.  In  fact  it  is  almost  a  form 
of  greatness  when  man  recognizes  that  he  does  not 
possess  the  qualities  to  make  him  great.  The  more  marked 
however  the  superiority  is,  the  less  jealousy  is  awakened. 
A  man  first  showing  unusual  mental  power  is  at  a  disad- 
vantage with  his  neighbors,  who  have  looked  upon  him 
as  no  better  than  themselves.  Hence  the  saying  that  a 
prophet  is  not  without  honor,  save  in  his  own  country. 

Humanity  moves  like  the  whirlwind  in  a  circle,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  it  moves  slowly  forward.  Like  the  whirl- 
wind, too,  the  only  movement  we  can  see  at  the  time  is 
that  of  the  circle  ;  to  notice  the  progressive  one  we  must 
look  back. 

In  the  circle  of  human  activity  error  continually 
returns.  One  form  of  error  that  invariably  drives  human 
progress  back  is  the  attempt  to  escape  the  division  of 
property  according  to  individual  effort.  The  first  motive 
that  man  has  for  work  is  that  he  shall  be  secured  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  results  of  his  labor.  If  he  cannot  have 
the  fruit  of  his  work,  the  whole  motive  for  doing  any 
work  is  in  great  measure  destroyed.  The  first  step  of  man's 
progress  must  have  been  some  form  of  the  recognition 


THOUGHTS.  103 

of  property.  As  this  security  diminishes,  so  is  the  motive 
that  leads  to  progress  weakened  ;  as  it  is  increased,  so  is 
the  motive  that  leads  to  progress  strengthened. 

The  complete  recognition  of  individual  property  is  the 
highest  form  that  this  motive  has  taken.  As  the  results 
of  labor  are  secure,  other  things  being  equal,  so  is  prog- 
ress slow  or  rapid. 

The  ever-recurring  stumbling-block  in  man's  prog- 
ress has  been,  that,  with  complex  organization,  and  the 
power  this  gives  to  acquire  wealth,  has  always  come  an 
unjust  distribution  of  this  wealth,  and  one  at  variance  with 
the  fair  remuneration  of  labor,  or  by  entails,  trusts,  etc., 
removing  the  motive  for  labor. 

Thus  the  foundation  of  every  social  arch  bearing  up  a 
past  civilization  has  at  certain  stages  of  progress  been 
sapped.  Civilization  hitherto  has  always  come  to  a  point 
where  it  had  no  strength  to  resist  the  barbarian,  either  at 
its  centre  or  on  its  frontiers.  When  this  principle  of 
giving  to  the  laborer  his  just  due  and  returns  for  effort  is 
dead,  and  man  has  not  a  proper  and  fair  security  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  his  labor,  barbarism  seems  to 
spring  from  the  very  loins  of  society  itself.  It  is  not  nec- 
essary that  there  should  be  barbarians  on  the  outside, 
These  grow  up  of  themselves,  created  by  the  condition  of 
society  after  it  reaches  a  certain  point  of  wealth.  Society 
in  its  progress  develops  tendencies  that  not  only  arrest 
progress  but  so  far  have  always  brought  temporary 
retrogression. 

Some  speak  of  the  great  Roman  civilization  as  having 


104  T ASICS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

been  destroyed  by  the  outer  barbarians.  This  is  ridicu- 
lous. The  empire,  like  some  old  trees,  was  rotten  at  the 
core,  weak  and  ready  to  topple  over  at  the  least  gust, 
while  still  sending  out  new  shoots  at  its  extremities. 
Rome  died  like  all  great  civilizations  before  it,  from 
within  and  not  from  without. 

With  the  decay  of  the  one  foundation  there  has  always 
gone  on  a  decay  of  the  other  or  matrimonial  one.  It  is 
not  essential  to  go  more  at  large  into  this  support  of  the 
arch,  as  the  importance  of  the  certainty  of  paternity  is  set 
forth  sufficiently  in  the  chapter  on  Matrimony. 

In  the  present  civilization  decay  has  started  and  death 
has  seemed  imminent,  but  Liberty  and  legal  Equality 
came,  as  in  the  American  and  French  Revolutions,  and 
saved  society. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  while  equality  amongst 
men  never  has,  and  while  progress  is  possible  never  will 
exist,  still  the  equality  before  the  law  and  the  liberty  of 
every  man  to  enjoy  the  returns  of  his  efforts,  at  least  to  a 
certain  extent,  are  an  essential  not  only  to  progress  but 
to  the  existence  of  the  highest  forms  of  society. 

We  have  never  enjoyed  this  ideal  condition  in  its  com- 
pleteness. As  our  population  in  America  grows  dense,  as 
wealth  increases,  and  the  free  public  lands  disappear,  we 
depart  farther  and  farther  from  it.  Every  day  it  becomes 
harder  for  man  to  escape  from  the  circumstances  of  his 
birth.  Some  are  born  rich,  some  are  born  poor,  and  as 
they  are  born  so  more  and  more  do  they  tend  to  remain 
irrespective  of  labor. 


THOUGHTS.  105 

Fortunately,  there  never  has  been  a  period  in  the  his- 
tory of  man  when  work  and  judgment  could  not  and  have 
not  lifted  him  from  the  very  lowest  to  the  very  highest 
paths  of  life.  No  matter  what  condition  society  may  fall 
into,  remember,  my  children,  this  fact — To  work  and 
judgment  all  things  are  possible. 

As  has  been  said,  one  of  the  greatest  motives  for  prog- 
ress ever  given  man  is  that  he  may  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his 
labor  in  his  child,  or  renewed,  immortalized  self. 

Thus  inheritance  cannot  be  overthrown.  Yet  it  is  in- 
heritance more  than  anything  that  fixes  men  in  classes. 
We  all  know  very  well  that  the  rich  and  the  poor  do  not 
receive  the  same  justice,  the  same  rewards,  or  the  same 
punishments  for  the  same  work  or  the  same  crimes.  Con- 
sequently the  class  divisions  inheritance  does  so  much  to 
perpetuate  are  a  menace  to  society.  In  classes  is  injus- 
tice. Time  and  time  again  societies  have  been  built  up 
by  the  division  of  the  people  into  classes.  Theoretically 
this  system  seems,  from  some  points  of  view  at  least,  capa- 
ble of  great  strength.  For  instance,  the  ruling  class  will 
limit  its  breeding  within  its  own  lines,  and  ought  to  pro- 
duce superior  rulers.  The  Hindoo  system  is  the  most 
striking  one  of  this  kind  now  surviving.  Practically, 
however,  class  societies  have  only  proved  advantageous 
at  a  stage  of  human  progress  now  passed. 

It  is  clear  that  the  full  power  of  the  motive  inheritance 
gives  demands  children.  The  highest  and  only  complete 
earthly  happiness  man  has  is  the  family.  One  of  the 
essentials  of  the  family  is  children.  There  is  no  family 


106  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

without  children.  Creation  and  reproduction  is  the 
crowning  achievement  of  man,  as  it  is  that  of  the  flowers, 
fruits,  and  of  all  vegetables  and  animals. 

Children  we  must  have.  Yet  it  is  also  clear  that 
natural  increase  amongst  mankind,  unrestricted  by  the 
horrors  of  disease,  famine,  war,  and  crime,  would  very 
soon  fill  this  poor  little  world  with  people  until  not  even 
standing-room  would  remain.  Amuse  yourself  for  a 
moment  in  calculating  the  possibilities  of  human  increase, 
and  see  where  it  will  lead  you.  Remember  at  the  same 
time  that  such  conditions  never  continue  to  exist,  and 
that  in  the  top  of  society  the  tendency  is  ever  to  exter- 
mination. 

Another  difficulty  of  inheritance  is  its  effect  in  remov- 
ing the  necessity  of  labor.  In  this  country  most  of  our 
prominent  families  that  leave  inheritance  disappear  in 
about  the  fourth  generation.  This  can  be  attributed  to 
the  absence  of  motive  for  work,  the  consequent  non-use 
of  the  faculties  and  powers  that  brought  the  family  into 
prominence,  and  the  inevitable  atrophy  and  weakening  of 
those  powers  by  non-use.  This  loss  of  power  by  non-use 
has  only  to  be  mentioned  to  cause  every  reflecting  person 
to  recognize  its  truth.  Physically  and  mentally  we  deteri- 
orate and  lose  power  when  we  do  not  use  our  forces. 
This  danger,  my  children,  I  especially  caution  you  to 
avoid. 

Goods  and  property  are  nothing  in  importance  com- 
pared to  the  conservation  and  transmission  of  the  powers 
that  acquired  them.  Without  the  power,  as  history  will 


THOUGHTS.  lO/ 

show  you,  the  property,  in  spite  of  everything  you  can 
do,  will  disappear,  if  not  in  your  children,  in  theirs. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  effect  of  the  use  or  non-use  of 
an  organ,  the  experiment  of  W.  Preyer  (University  of 
Jena),  on  the  embryo  of  the  land  salamander  may  be 
cited.  The  land  salamander  is  a  small  reptile  with  lungs 
and  legs.  In  the  experiment  the  embryo  was  taken  from 
the  egg  before  it  was  hatched,  placed  in  tepid  water  so 
that  it  could  not  get  out  and  breathe  the  air,  and  was 
properly  fed.  The  lungs  remained  undeveloped,  gills 
appeared  and  took  their  place.  The  legs  became  atrophied, 
and  fins  and  a  strong  rudder-like  tail  were  the  organs 
of  locomotion.  We  here  see  the  normal  organs  unused 
atrophy  or  remain  undeveloped,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  changed  conditions  called  forth  organs  formerly 
possessed  by  evolutionary  ancestors.  The  fish  in  the 
Mammoth  Cave  have  lost  their  eyes  from  non-use.  In- 
stance after  instance  can  be  given  of  this.  The  whole 
history  of  evolution  is  full  of  them. 

Teach  then  continuously  that  property  while  good  can 
be  obtained  by  the  able,  but  cannot  be  long  held  by  the 
incompetent.  Teach  that  by  use  alone  can  the  faculties 
and  powers  be  maintained.  Wealth  is  a  mere  incident 
of  capacity.  Think  and  study  ever  to  maintain  by  use 
capacity.  If  you  succeed,  the  wealth  will  care  for  itself. 

WTell-intentioned  people  are  ever  perceiving  the  injus- 
tice and  suffering  to  which  mankind  is  heir.  So  we  have 
prophets,  theologians,  founders  of  religions  who  have 
endeavored  earnestly  to  lead  men  so  their  ills  would  not 


108  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

occur.  It  has  been  in  vain.  Man  suffers  still ;  injustice 
still  usurps  the  judgment-seat. 

In  our  own  time  we  have  all  sorts  of  efforts  going  on  in 
the  same  direction.  Each  one  proving  something  ;  each 
one,  let  us  hope,  doing  some  good,  and  doing  work  that 
will  lead  on  to  the  future  perfect,  immortal  race.  We 
have  those  who  say  that  the  remedy  is  the  eating  of 
nothing  but  vegetables,  others  that  it  lies  in  the  drinking 
of  nothing  but  water,  but  the  most  complete  and  prompt 
remedy  for  the  ills. of  man  ever  preached  is  undoubtedly 
the  proposed  turning  of  women  into  men.  This  idea,  if 
ever  accepted,  would  end  the  race  and  its  ills  with  it  in 
one  generation. 

It  is  more  than  doubtful  whether  woman  can  equal  man 
in  the  outside  struggle  for  life  which  man  has  thus  far 
carried  on.  It  is  certain  that  she  cannot  do  it  and  bear 
children.  Childbearing  is  a  handicap  in  the  open  fight  of 
life.  Coming,  as  it  must,  in  the  most  important  age  of 
activity,  it  cannot  but  place  the  mother  at  once  at  a  dis- 
advantage in  that  fight. 

Thus  woman,  to  be  equal  to  man  and  fill  his  place,  can- 
not be  a  mother,  and  if  she  successfully  competes  against 
him,  extermination  is  the  curtain  to  end  the  play  of 
humanity. 

At  this  moment  Socialism  cries  out  that  it  alone  holds 
the  Key  to  cure  all  man's  ills.  Its  first  tenet  is  that  all 
property  shall  be  the  State's.  The  individual  can  own 
nothing.  The  motive  for  individual  effort  and  labor 
seems  swept  away  by  this  system  completely.  If  a  man 


THOUGHTS. 

cannot  enjoy  the  results  of  his  labor  he  has  certainly  no 
object  in  working.  Under  such  circumstances  it  would 
be  the  policy  of  every  man  to  work  as  little  as  he  could, 
and  to  secure  as  much  of  the  work  of  others  as  possible. 
The  work  of  the  Social  State  must  therefore  be  done 
under  compulsion. 

An  incident  of  the  system  is  that  all  newspapers,  books, 
publications,  etc.,  would  be  printed  and  controlled  by  the 
State.  Thus  criticism  of  its  policies,  acts,  or  even  of  the 
improper  acts  of  its  officers  would  have  no  existence.  As 
the  socialist  attacks  the  one  foundation  of  our  arch,  that 
is  the  certainty  of  man  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of 
his  labor,  so  he  also  attacks  the  other,  the  certainty  of  man 
in  the  paternity  of  his  children,  and  every  advanced  socialist 
is  an  enemy  of  marriage  and  an  advocate  of  free  love. 

Socialism  would  destroy  every  motive  that  has  led  to 
progress.  Its  own  picture  of  a  government  without  critics, 
without  variety,  without  object  or  progress,  is  the  most 
dull,  monotonous,  and  unpromising  picture  of  life  I  have 
ever  had  presented  to  me.  No  enjoyment  of  your  own 
labor,  no  houses,  no  children  you  could  safely  call  yours, 
free  love  and  no  more  provision  than  any  other  system  has 
for  preventing  the  inevitable  pressure  of  population  against 
the  means  of  subsistence. 

Shirking,  idleness,  and  lust  governed  by  uncriticizable 
tyranny.  This  is  Socialism. 

It  is  an  illustration  of  how  little  power  all  our  learning 
and  command  of  natural  forces  has  when  any  considerable 
class  is  ground  down  too  hard  and  is  the  victim  of  injustice. 


IIO  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

The  oppressed  class  will  fly  to  any  proposed  remedy,  no 
matter  how  unreasonable,  if  it  will  but  stir  up  a  change. 
So  come  police  to  maintain  order  that  should  maintain 
itself. 

While  my  views  are  opposed  to  Socialism  in  the  various 
forms  now  proposed,  I  cannot  overlook  the  tendency  of 
society  towards  many  of  its  tenets.  In  fact,  this  tendency 
seems  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  society  in  many  phases 
of  its  development.  What  appears  to  us  not  in  harmony 
with  the  principles  of  human  progress  may,  in  better  form 
and  with  a  better  population,  be  a  means  to  accomplish 
better  social  results. 

All  these  follies,  quackeries,  and  fanaticisms  have  their 
birth  in  injustice.  Where  you  find  fanatics  and  revolu- 
tionists there  exists  WRONG. 

Of  the  medicines  offered  to  society,  and  at  times  forced 
down  its  throat,  some  are  good,  some  are  bad,  some  are 
prescribed  from  legitimate  inquiry  and  investigation, 
others  are  mere  quackeries  for  the  deception  of  mankind 
to  the  benefit  of  a  selfish  inventor.  Like  the  medicines 
offered  to  the  individual,  some  of  the  social  nostrums  do 
good,  others  do  harm,  but  not  one  has  been  found  to  avert 
death.  Individuals  die  at  about  the  usual  period  in  spite 
of  all  our  medicines.  Societies  die  in  spite  of  all  pre- 
scriptions. Let  us  hope  that  this  will  not  always  be  so. 
In  the  meantime,  we  must  distrust  our  loud-mouthed  doc- 
tors and  take  their  prescriptions,  if  at  all,  on  the  homoeo- 
pathic plan. 

Remember  in  your  efforts  at  improvement  that  the  way 


THOUGHTS.  Ill 

is  more  by  building  up  the  new  from  or  upon  the  old  than 
in  a  total  overthrow  of  this.  The  history  of  evolution 
shows  us  what  wonders  have  resulted  from  this  building 
process,  and  how  the  useless  or  detrimental  may  be  peace- 
fully and  insensibly  dropped  in  progress.  The  pages  of 
paleontology  show  us  as  clearly  armies  upon  armies  of 
living  creatures  lost  and  exterminated  while  confronting 
too  rapid  and  too  radical  changes.  The  history  of  the 
English  race  seems  to  indicate  that  a  conservative  prog- 
ress is  equally  best  suited  to  humanity.  The  evolution 
of  the  self  government  of  this  race  has  always  been  along 
conservative  lines.  At  the  same  time,  its  system  is  to-day 
far  ahead  of  that  of  any  other  race,  although  some,  like 
the  French,  were  at  times  upsetting  everything  in  the 
abuses  of  government  and  apparently  leading  the  vanguard 
of  progress. 

Natural  conditions  have  been  changed.  They  are  ever 
changing.  Therefore  a  well-proved  natural  condition 
need  not  of  necessity  require  the  endurance  of  a  well- 
recognized  evil.  The  change  of  natural  conditions,  how- 
ever, must  always  be  along  the  lines  of  natural  advance. 
What  cannot  be  resisted  or  destroyed  should  be  utilized. 
When  societies  decay  and  die,  families  need  not. 

Man  to  live  a  healthy  and  useful  life  must  observe  cer- 
tain facts  of  nature,  and  live  in  harmony  with  them.  He 
must  have  sufficient  exercise,  plenty  of  fresh  air,  a  nutri- 
tious diet,  sleep,  rest,  etc.  As  it  is  with  the  individual  so 
it  is  with  society.  Certain  natural  laws  must  be  observed 
if  the  society  is  to  have  a  healthy  and  useful  life,  with 


112  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

strength  to  reproduce  itself  improved.  Amongst  these 
laws  is  that  one  which  demands  that  man  to  work  and 
progress  must  have  a  distinct,  individually  tangible 
motive.  The  two  great  motives,  as  we  have  seen,  without 
which  the  further  development  of  man  is  impossible,  are 
the  certainty  of  the  paternity  of  the  children,  and  the  cer- 
tainty of  man  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  results  of  his 
labor. 

No  civilization  has  existed  without  these.  For  progress, 
the  first  must  be  complete  with  a  modicum  at  least  of  the 
second.  The  second  never  has  been  complete.  When 
it  does  so  live,  it  may  be  that  the  key  to  permanent  pros- 
perity will  be  found. 

In  the  knowledge  of  nature  we  progress.  We  study, 
investigate,  discover.  We  potter  about  the  locked  door 
of  nature,  that  is  the  immediate  limit  to  our  view  of  the 
first  cause,  to  find  that  the  key  has  been  laying  under  our 
noses  all  the  time.  This  door  opened  we  have  progressed, 
but  we  are  again  in  immediate  presence  of  a  door  that 
shuts  out  the  view  of  the  first  cause  as  completely  as 
before. 

Let  us  hope  that  the  solution  will  soon  come.  In  the 
meantime  we  must  work  in  harmony  with  the  facts  we 
know  and  may  discover.  With  patience  and  a  conscien- 
tious search  for  truth,  truth  will  be  found. 

If  the  future  glory  of  the  race  is  to  be  enjoyed  by  us, 
we  must  reproduce.  We  must  have  children,  and  thus 
send  our  vital  flame  of  life,  our  own  identity,  marching  on 
to  future  perfection.  Never,  under  any  circumstances,  lose 


THOUGHTS.  113 

sight  of  this  fundamental  necessity  of  human  life  and 
human  progress. 

Human  nature  has  been  substantially  the  same  during 
at  least  the  historic  period  of  man's  existence.  The 
motives  actuating  man  to  good  or  evil  have  not  changed 
in  their  natures.  Periods  of  virtue  have  been  succeeded 
by  periods  of  vice  ;  vice  has  been  supplanted  by  vjirtue  ; 
prosperity  has  been  followed  by  distress,  distress  by  pros- 
perity. Sometimes  self-sacrifice,  patriotism,  and  bravery 
have  been  dominant,  again  selfishness,  treachery,  and 
cowardice  have  been  most  prominent.  Still  human  nature 
in  these  changes  has  remained  the  same.  The  differing 
conditions  of  society  have  been  due  to  differing  motives 
actuating  man. 

Thus  you  will  perceive,  my  children,  the  vital  impor- 
tance of  always  keeping  before  you  the  grand  motives 
leading  to  effort,  courage,  and  progress.  The  motive 
makes  the  man. 

A  French  proverb  says,  Ceriestquele  premier  pas  quico&te. 
It  is  true  that  the  first  effort  to  do  anything  whatsoever  is 
the  most  difficult,  and  requires  the  most  energy.  Each 
repetition  makes  the  thing  done  more  easy.  The  subor- 
dinate machinery  of  nerves  and  muscles  act  at  last  with- 
out conscious  effort.  This  is  most  completely  illustrated 
perhaps  in  piano  playing.  The  beginner  has  to  observe 
and  think  of  the  motion  of  the  fingers  and  the  position  of 
the  keys  while  reading  the  music.  The  accomplished 
player  thinks  of  neither  fingers  nor  keys.  His  fingers  act 
with  wonderful  rapidity  and  accuracy.  What  is  true  of 


114  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

the  nerves  and  muscles  is  doubtless  true  of  the  brain. 
Whatever  train  of  thought  we  set  up  or  permit  must  make 
its  repetition  easier.  Such  modes  of  thought  or  mental 
action  as  we  become  habituated  to  at  last  become  a  part 
of  ourselves  and  may  be  presumed  to  influence  ourselves 
-renewed  in  our  children.  Consequently,  the  importance 
is  evident  of  cultivating  in  the  mind's  action  as  in  the 
bodies,  the  good,  the  useful,  and  the  high,  and  of  avoiding 
the  bad,  the  useless,  and  the  low. 

While  it  is  true  that  man  naturally  possesses  reproduc- 
tive powers  that  would,  if  fully  exercised,  carry  population 
beyond  any  power  of  the  earth  to  support  it,  it  is  also 
true  that  these  powers  are  never  fully  exercised  for  any 
length  of  time. 

The  savage  and  barbarian  overcomes  the  natural  possi- 
bilities of  increase  by  female  infanticide,  which  custom, 
prevalent  in  China,  exists  in  our  own  great  cities  as  to 
both  male  and  female  infants  to  an  alarming  degree. 

But  aside  from  this  the  development  of  society  has  thus 
far  been  accompanied  by  a  diminished  power  of  repro- 
duction. This  result  of  progress  has  been  further 
increased  by  a  diminished  desire,  especially  on  the  part 
of  women,  to  have  children  ;  and  the  consequent  practice 
of  preventitive  measures,  to  which  late  marriages  add 
additional  force. 

Marriages  are  growing  later  in  all  European  countries  by 
statistical  evidence  and  in  this  country  by  common  obser- 
vation. At  the  same  time,  in  cities  at  least,  there  is  a  prema- 
ture development  of  sexual  feeling.  Both  are  bad  signs. 


THOUGHTS.  115 

The  attitude  of  society  toward  marriage  and  the  sexual 
relation  is  changing.  Divorces  and  separations,  recently 
rare  and  fatal  to  social  standing,  are  now  more  common 
and  are  looked  upon  more  leniently.  Prostitution,  once 
only  known  in  this  country  in  the  slums,  now  exists  in  all 
parts  of  our  cities,  and  is  tolerated.  Prostitutes  buy  in 
the  best  stores,  walk  on  the  main  avenues,  and  no  longer 
feel  driven  either  to  shrink  from  observation,  or  put  on  a 
brazen  assumption  to  cover  their  impossible  position. 

Prostitution,  fatal  and  deadly  as  it  is,  has  become  in 
our  demoralized  civilization  almost  a  respectable  business. 
This  degradation  and  ruin  of  the  woman  goes  hand  in 
hand  with  another  degradation  and  ruin  of  women  ac- 
complished by  abortion.  This  is  the  killing  of  conceived 
but  unborn  life,  the  killing  of  her  own  renewed  self,  the 
killing  of  her  hold  on  the  future.  It  is  usually  followed 
by  disease  of  the  reproductive  organs.  Thus  outraged 
Nature  strikes  back. 

This  strange  suppression  of  the  grandest  function  of 
humanity,  its  power  of  self-perpetuation,  is  doubly  strange, 
occurring  as  it  does  for  the  most  part  among  the  women 
and  amongst  the  well-to-do.  The  race,  to  exist,  must  re- 
produce. For  this  reproduction,  women  must  be  mothers. 
When  they  are  mothers  they  are  practically  out  of  the 
world-fight,  and  must  depend  on  men  for  that  part  of 
life's  struggle.  The  destiny  of  the  majority  of  women 
must  be  motherhood,  and  the  necessities  of  mothers  must 
and  will  govern  the  destinies  of  the  sex.  It  is  therefore 
clear  that  humanity  must  disappear,  or  women  must  de- 


Il6  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

pend  on  men  for  the  outside  contest  of  life.  There  is  no 
way  for  a  woman  to  permanently  hold  a  man,  except  by 
giving  him  children,  and  perpetuating  the  combined  lives 
of  the  two  creators,  father  and  mother.  It  certainly  is  not 
the  desire  of  the  reasonable,  nor  should  it  be  the  policy 
of  the  statesman,  to  encourage  the  reproduction  of  the 
diseased  or  incapable  laggards  of  society.  These  indeed 
breed  too  much.  In  their  weakness  and  thoughtless  irre- 
sponsibility they  are  in  a  measure  protected  against  the 
extermination  that  would  benefit  the  world.  They  breed 
because  they  do  not  think.  The  rich  or  capable  think 
in  a  little  and  incomplete  way,  and  so  refuse  the  trouble 
and  responsibilities  of  the  greatness  of  reproduction. 

It  is  the  rich  and  the  well  educated  who  either  can  not 
or  will  not  have  children.  As  societies  become  rich  and  in- 
telligent, they  tend  to  disappear  through  sterility.  They 
have  fewer  and  fewer  children,  and  at  last  the  breed  dies 
out. 

Idleness  is  born  of  prosperity.  Prosperity  exterminates. 
Labor  alone  breeds.  Remember  this  ;  guard  this  point 
more  than  any  other.  Breed  you  must  ;  to  breed,  you 
must  labor  ;  so  labor  you  must.  Idleness  is  death  ;  kill 
it  before  it  kills  you. 

Labor  is  ennobling.  It  has  varying  advantages  ac- 
cording to  its  character.  Every  one  should  commence 
with  common  labor,  but  should  aspire  to  the  highest. 
Inferior  occupations  should  not  take  too  much  time. 
They  are  useful  only  in  youth,  when  the  faculties  are 
undeveloped.  A  command  of  detail  is  one  essential  of 


THOUGHTS.  117 

greatness.  It  should  not  be  allowed  to  diminish  the 
other,  that  is,  the  command  of  generalization.  Very  often 
men  in  high  place  have  been  lost  from  their  incapacity  in 
detail,  quite  as  often  they  have  been  lost  from  an  inca- 
pacity in  generalization.  Louis  XVI  was  a  good  lock- 
smith but  a  poor  king.  Many  of  the  Roman  emperors 
who  failed  in  a  military  epoch  were  personally  skilful  in 
the  use  of  arms.  It  may  be  said  here  that  the  command 
of  detail  comes  best  by  constant  contact  with  the  world, 
while  the  power  of  generalization  comes  in  solitude.  Thus 
a  man  to  be  great  must  mix  with  the  world  at  times,  and 
at  times  be  alone  and  free  from  it. 

The  tendencies  of  civilization  are  more  and  more  to  the 
industrial  type  and  away  from  the  military.  This  does 
not  do  away  now  with  the  necessity  of  military  knowledge 
for  defence.  It  may  be  a  long  time  before  organized  war 
is  done  away  with.  Even  when  this  happens  there  seems 
little  prospect  that  the  contest  of  life  will  be  less  bitter 
and  destructive  than  it  is.  In  fact,  philosophers  claim 
with  some  color  of  reason  that  the  life  contest  should  be 
cruel,  so  that  the  inferior  may  not  survive  to  clog 
progress. 

Industrial,  as  contra-distinguished  from  a  pastoral  or 
intellectual  life,  is  the  least  likely  to  maintain  a  martial  or 
adventurous  spirit.  Consequently,  industrial  nations  are 
those  at  once  the  richest  and  the  most  often  conquered. 
Their  riches  tempt  the  spoliation  which  their  cowardice 
makes  possible.  On  the  other  hand  the  industry  civilizes 
and  advances,and  the  superiority  of  learning  and  invention 


Il8  TASK'S  BY   TWILIGHT. 

has  always  been  a  characteristic  of  industrial  societies. 
These  powers  may  counteract  their  weakness  in  military 
feeling. 

Civilization  has  so  much  increased  man's  power  that 
he  has  come  to  consider  dangers  from  the  exterior  as 
naught.  It  is  probably  true  that  our  destruction  must 
commence  internally,  but  such  vast  populations  as  those 
of  India  and  China,  when  once  weakness  comes  to  us, 
may  easily  form  the  nucleus  of  destructive,  emigrative 
invasions  similar  to  those  of  the  past.  We,  like  the  ancient 
peoples  of  Europe,  or  even  like  our  own  Indians,  may  be 
swept  away  and  the  land  of  our  birth  know  us  no  more. 

Industrial  nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  should  remem- 
ber that  it  is  easier  to  overcome  the  obstacles  of  poverty 
than  to  resist  the  enticements  of  wealth. 

In  considering  matters  of  military  defence,  it  may  be 
useful  to  recall  the  tendency  through  history  to  a  return 
in  warfare  from  book  science,  strategy,  weapons  injurious 
at  a  distance,  and  diminished  necessity  of  personal  bravery 
to  courage,  short  weapons,  and  lack  of  science. 

To  maintain  a  spirit  equal  to  an  emergency  of  war  is 
indeed  important.  To  do  this  the  exercise  for  bodily 
health  should  be  of  a  character  to  develop  courage,  self- 
reliance,  initiation,  and  combination.  A  game  like  foot- 
ball does  this.  Many  small  things  may  also  prove  useful 
in  building  up  decision,  which  is  an  essential  in  military 
life.  A  little  rule  like  this  is  good.  When  you  go  to  a 
barbershop,  take  the  barber  you  want  and  not  necessarily 
the  barber  who  wants  you.  In  this,  as  in  all  other  mat- 


THOUGHTS.  119 

tefs,  we  should  be  constantly  on  the  watch  to  improve 
and  become  stronger. 

We  should  never  fear  criticism  from  the  outside  ;  we 
should  invite  it.  Criticism,  a  spirit  of  searching  always 
for  defects,  is  so  universal  as  to  be  presumably  useful. 
We  look  for  the  defect  to  do  away  with  it  and  improve. 
While  one  should  be  ever  alert  in  this  matter  in  things, 
methods,  children,  and  self,  the  spirit  of  criticism  should, 
be  kept  one  of  reform,  and  in  small  matters  of  social  in- 
tercourse should  be  suppressed. 

When  you  speak  of  a  person,  casually  speak  of  their 
best  qualities  and  forget  their  defects.  Your  hearers  will 
remember  this  treatment  of  the  absent,  and  feel  themselves 
safe  as  to  tongue-thrusts  when  they  also  are  away.  There 
is  plenty  of  spice  in  picking  people  to  pieces  in  a  gap- 
eared  circle.  The  listener  laughs  at  the  cuts  and  slashes, 
but  trembles  to  leave  his  own  reputation  in  your  hands. 
The  success  of  the  slanderer  makes  no  friends.  It  leads 
to  nothing.  Leave  this  business  to  others. 

While  labor  is  essential,  rest  is  also  good.  In  cold 
countries  the  climate  more  or  less  stops  work  in  winter. 
In  such  countries  not  too  cold,  where  science  has  over- 
come the  more  notable  drawbacks,  such  as  the  continued 
expenditure  of  vitality  to  resist  the  cold,  the  strongest 
civilization  now  exists.  The  question  may  be  asked 
whether  this  is  not  due  to  the  temporary  cessation  of 
work  in  winter.  Even  if  work  be  continued,  it  is  usually 
of  a  radically  different  kind  at  the  different  seasons. 

The  greatest  fertility  and  vigor  in  the  human  race,  orig- 


I2O  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

inally  in  the  temperate  to  warm  zone,  has  with  the  increase 
of  man's  power  over  the  elements  moved  to  the  temperate 
to  cold  zone.  The  causes  of  this  are  obscure  ;  but  the 
reasonable  rest  offered  the  agricultural  masses  in  a  cold 
winter  may  be  some  element  in  it,  when  connected  with 
the  relief  from  the  excessive  cold  architecture  and  science 
have  introduced. 

It  is  well  to  recall  the  fact  that  science  has  done  little 
or  nothing  to  alleviate  the  drain  on  human  vitality  hot 
climates  cause.  Consequently  less  improvement  has 
taken  place  in  these  than  in  the  colder  climates,  and  less 
advantageous  change  is  to  be  anticipated. 

In  delicate  health  rest  is  good.  Some  repose  and  time 
for  reflection,  so  that  one  can  grasp  the  generalizations 
which  everyday  details  drive  from  you,  is  very  good  ;  but 
do  not  let  repose  lead  you  into  idleness. 

To  wear  out  is  longer  in  bringing  the  end  and  better 
every  way  than  to  rust  out.  Idle  people  are  both  misera- 
ble and  mischievous  ;  avoid  them  always  from  youth  to 
age.  Never  on  any  account  be  one  yourself. 

A  political  saying  is  that  the  enemies  of  to-day  should 
be  treated  as  though  they  might  be  the  friends  of  to-mor- 
row, and  the  friends  of  to-day  as  though  they  might  be 
the  enemies  of  to-morrow.  This  is  a  good  maxim  when 
taken  with  limitations.  Always  be  a  true  friend  and  be  a 
hot  enemy  while  enmity  must  be.  To  the  extent  that  you 
are  a  true  friend,  friends  will  be  true  to  you.  Not  each 
one,  but  the  average  will  make  up  for  individual  delin- 
quencies. 


THOUGHTS.  121 

Nearly  the  contrary  can  be  said  of  enmity.  A  hot 
enemy,  other  things  being  equal,  will  have  fewest  enemies, 
and  strangely  enough  it  is  the  hard  hitter  and  the  full- 
blooded  fighter  who  re-establishes  friendship  or  turns 
enemies  to  friends  quickest. 

A  fighter  with  diplomacy  will  never  lack  friends. 
Avoid  getting  on  the  wrong  side  of  questions.  When  in 
business  or  a  profession  be  careful  to  be  right  before 
going  into  important  matters.  As  a  lawyer,  for  instance, 
never  take  a  case  which  you  believe  unjust,  never  under- 
take to  set  up  a  doctrine  you  believe  untrue.  This 
course  will  have  its  inconveniences,  and  will  at  times  cut 
off  some  paying  business.  It  is  quite  certain  that  a  man 
is  never  at  his  best  in  contending  for  a  cause  in  which  he 
does  not  believe.  It  is  equally  certain  that  a  man  who 
defends  only  what  he  believes  to  be  true  and  just  will 
add  great  force  to  his  character.  He  will  be  a  stronger 
man  than  he  otherwise  could  be.  He  will  achieve 
success  where  he  otherwise  would  not. 

Besides  all  this,  such  a  course  must  command  the 
respect  of  every  judge,  public  officer,  and  citizen,  and 
the  confidence  of  every  jury.  The  eventual  outcome  of 
a  man's  career  so  ordered  must  be  success.  The  trouble 
and  disadvantage  will  only  be  while  he  is  making  his 
determination  known,  and  by  acts  securing  the  belief  of 
the  incredulous  world  in  a  very  unusual  rule  of  business. 

^Esops  Fables  are  excellent  for  study.  One  of  these 
fables  has  for  its  subject  a  wager  between  the  Sun  and 
the  Wind,  as  to  which  of  them  could  most  easily  take  a 


122  TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 

cloak  from  the  body  of  a  certain  wayfarer,  The  Wind 
tried  first.  It  blew  strong,  then  stronger  and  stronger, 
The  wayfarer  only  wrapped  his  cloak  the  closer.  So  the 
gusty,  noisy,  violent  Wind  failed.  The  Sun,  coming  out 
calmly,  smiled  with  warmth  upon  the  scene.  The  way- 
farer, soon  perspiring,  loosed  his  cloak,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  he  took  it  off  altogether. 

Generally,  in  life,  you  will  find  firm  good-nature  similar 
to  the  quiet  heat  of  the  sun,  the  best  means  by  which  to 
accomplish  your  ends.  It  is  always  better  than  bluster. 
The  heat  of  the  sun  may  be  fierce  and  terrible  as  well  as 
smiling.  It  may  be  destructive  as  well  as  life-giving,  yet 
its  forces,  as  we  know  them,  are  calm  and  regular.  They 
are  the  creative  and  life-giving  power  of  nature.  It  is  no 
more  trouble  to  saunter  and  smile  in  the  sunshine  than 
to  shiver  and  scowl  in  the  shadow. 

Be  firm  ;  never  be  rude  ;  never  do  little  disagreeable 
things  against  even  your  worst  enemy.  Do  not  have 
scolding  or  hair-pulling  contests.  It  is,  of  course,  often 
necessary  to  strike.  When  such  times  occur,  get  your 
plans  in  harmony  with  your  objective  point,  and  when 
you  strike,  strike  home.  You  will  always  find  it  easier  to 
re-establish  good-feeling  with  one  whom  you  have  seri- 
ously hurt  or  injured,  rather  than  with  him  whose  nose 
you  have  pulled. 

Therefore  avoid  all  little,  mean,  nagging,  disagreeable 
things.  Be  a  friend  if  possible  ;  neutral  if  this  cannot 
be,  and  an  enemy  only  on  necessity.  Go  into  no  fight 
without  the  intention  to  win.  Fight  to  win.  When  you 


THOUGHTS.  123 

succeed  take  the  spoils  and  legitimate  fruits  of  your  vic- 
tory. It  is  not  a  very  wise  course  to  go  beyond  small 
things  in  self-effacement. 

No  one  can  hope  to  achieve  success  who  does  not 
force  some  from  his  path  and  take  the  right  of  way  from 
others.  While  success  involves  opposition  and  friction, 
judicious  management  may  reduce  it  to  a  minimum. 
Thus  a  wheel  upon  its  spindle,  oiled  or  greased,  will  re- 
volve with  a  friction  so  slight  as  to  be  imperceptible, 
while  the  same  spindle  without  the  lubricant  will  increase 
so  much  the  friction  as  to  eventually  heat  and  stick  the 
wheel  and  spindle  together,  so  that  motion  is  arrested 
and  a  permanent  injury  done  to  both.  The  oil  of  good- 
humor  is  a  lubricant  that  will  aid  the  revolutions  of  the 
wheel  of  fortune.  So  industry  and  judgment  will  not  be 
held  back  by  unnecessary  friction. 

Fight  as  little  as  you  can.  You  will  find  fighting  a 
small  need  if  you  mind  your  own  business.  To  mind 
your  own  business  is  a  course  that  will  keep  you  out  of  a 
thousand  difficulties.  I  very  heartily  commend  it  to  you. 

The  motto  "  Faithful  and  true  "  should  be  your  guide 
in  all  things,  and  especially  in  friendship.  Make  a  busi- 
ness of  acquiring  friends.  A  little  favor  at  a  critical 
moment  may  give  you  a  devoted  friend.  Therefore  look 
for  such  occasions.  You  must  not,  however,  sacrifice  the 
interests  of  your  family  to  outside  friendships.  The  blood 
tie  always  comes  first,  the  friend  next. 

Go  on  no  man's  bond  without  security.  Endorse  no 
notes  without  equivalent.  Make  these  your  rules,  and 


124  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

you  can  refuse  a  friend  upon  the  general  principle.  I 
have  an  agreement  with  my  brother  to  go  on  no  man's 
bond  without  his  consent ;  and  he  is  equally  bound  to 
me.  This  is  a  good  idea,  and  saves  one  from  temptation 
to  do  a  dangerous  act. 

Short  accounts  makes  good  friends.  When  you  lend 
money  to  a  friend,  count  it  as  lost.  Never  lend  in  a 
friendly  way  what  you  must  have  back.  The  getting  of 
it  back  will  break  the  friendship  more  probably  than  a 
first  refusal.  In  selecting  agents  for  the  execution  of 
your  plans  take  the  young.  A  man  over  forty  rarely  im- 
proves ;  while  a  man  of  any  mark  at  twenty-five  almost 
always  does.  In  the  first  case  you  have  an  agent  whose 
capacities  must  he  presumed  to  be  stationary  or  retro- 
gressive, and  in  whom  initiative  is  every  day  decreasing. 
In  the  second  case  the  presumption  is  in  favor  of  greater 
capacity  and  power,  and  increased  initiative  and  energy. 
As  for  contented  persons  never  employ  them  except  for 
routine  work.  The  contented  are  of  no  earthly  account 
in  progress.  Discontent  is  our  spur  in  life.  So  look  for 
the  ambitious  as  agents.  Ambition  is  the  word  for  the 
highest  form  of  discontent. 

In  all  your  acts  or  schemes  lay  your  plans  carefully. 
Spend  time  or  money  or  both  beforehand  to  know  what 
you  are  about,  and  use  ever  some  special  means  to  keep 
your  main  object  in  view,  lest  in  a  long  and  exciting  con- 
test you  lose  sight  of  what  you  are  working  for.  It  is  the 
oblivion  of  their  object  that  forces  so  many  in  the  world 
into  failure. 


THOUGHTS.  12$ 

Happiness,  power,  long  life,  and  above  all  a  family 
for  the  future  are  the  real  objects.  The  world  is  full  of 
those  who  never  get  beyond  the  means  of  attaining  an 
object  because  they  cannot  see  beyond  these  means. 

Money  is  a  means  of  attaining  certain  objects.  In 
itself  gold  coin  is  nothing  ;  it  is  good  for  wha1.  it  will  get, 
yet  many  think  of  nothing  and  work  for  nothing  except 
to  pile  up  bank  accounts,  and  are  in  fact  never  happy, 
die  early,  and  have  no  children  ;  or  at  best  leave  some 
with  the  poor  constitution  born  of  too  sordid  indoor 
work.  So,  having  the  means,  never  attain  a  real  object 
through  not  having  a  clear  idea,  or  perhaps  having  no 
idea  of  what  they  were  really  striving  for.  Do  not  loose 
good  chances  by  undue  delay  for  preparation.  This 
fault  has  ruined  many  generals. 

Do  not  give  up  your  individuality,  or  your  legitimate 
objectives.  These,  however,  can  be  best  attained  by  an 
examination  and  study  of  the  conditions  surrounding  you, 
and  by  working  in  harmony  with  these.  "A  wise  man  is 
like  water  ;  he  can  fit  himself  to  the  shape  of  any  jug." 

It  would  not  be  wise  now  to  put  on  armor  to  go  to 
war,  but  it  once  was.  It  would  not  be  wise  to  eat  whales' 
blubber  in  the  tropics,  though  it  would  be  wise  to  eat  it 
in  an  Arctic  winter.  So  times  and  conditions  vary  ;  ac- 
cording to  these  you  must  choose  your  means,  being  ever 
mindful  that  truth  is  essential  in  all  your  dealings  to 
preserve  your  own  character  and  your  own  greatness. 

Your  own  force  is  what  you  must  depend  on,  if  not  to 
achieve  position,  then  to  maintain  it.  Your  force  will 


126  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

depend  on  your  own  self-respect  and  self-reliance. 
Every  departure  from  truth  injures  these,  hence  the 
necessity  of  truth  as  a  guiding  star  in  your  lives. 

It  is  said  of  Henry  IV.,  of  France,  that  he  adopted  the 
policy,  in  harmony  with  his  character,  of  telling  the  truth 
in  his  diplomacy  and  State  affairs,  and  confounded  his 
opponents  thereby. 

There  is  one  person  with  whom  your  are  always — this 
one  is  yourself.  If  you  have  a  scrub-liar  and  cheat 
always  at  your  elbow,  in  every  confidence,  whispering 
weak  evasion  to  every  enterprise,  what  a  handicap  have 
you  fixed  upon  yourself  !  If,  on  the  other  hand,  your  in- 
separable companion  is  honest,  true,  and  courageous,  and 
stands  to  frown  upon  all  that  is  despicable,  that  circum- 
stance may  suggest,  and  to  counsel  high  courses  of  life  in 
opportunity  or  emergency,  what  a  guard  and  friend  you 
have  !  Do  not  forget  then,  that  a  low  act  or  even  thought 
must  lose  to  yourself  your  own  self-respect,  while  high 
courses  will  give  confidence  and  courage  for  the  future,  in 
the  good  favor  in  which  you  will  hold  your  own  soul. 

Some  carry  heroism  to  extreme.  In  a  fire,  for  instance, 
they  will  burn  if  some  one  else  cannot  be  saved.  In  other 
cases  a  person  could  swim  ashore  in  an  accident  at  sea, 
but  will  remain  to  certain  death  because  some  one  whom 
they  cannot  save  is  unable  to  do  so.  A  useless  sacrifice 
is  folly. 

Character  and  force  can  never  exist  without  self- 
reliance.  Self-reliance  cannot  long  exist,  if  it  can  exist 
at  all,  without  individual  responsibility.  Therefore,  all 


THOUGHTS.  127 

coddling,  whether  of  friend,  family,  or  government, 
is  bad. 

This  should  not  prevent  aid  being  given  to  make  indi- 
vidual effort  more  effective,  nor  prevent  opportunity  being 
made  for  the  beginner.  The  policy  should  be  to  throw 
responsibility  on  the  one  we  would  see  advance,  and 
thereby  give  play  to  the  faculties  of  our  protege  or  to  our 
child. 

A  forceful  man  can  recover  from  any  blow  of  fortune, 
except  the  loss  of  all  his  children,  in  his  old  age.  Thus 
force  is  the  essential.  Wealth,  success,  or  position  are 
mere  incidents. 

Mental  force,  with  a  physical  force  to  carry  it,  must 
come  to  the  front  ;  it  cannot  be  more  than  temporarily 
beaten  down.  Like  a  cork  in  water  it  will  come  to  the 
top.  I  speak  of  these  two  forces  as  different  ;  so  the 
world  looks  at  them.  It  is,  however,  clear  that  there  can 
be  no  manifestation  of  intellect  without  the  physical  aid 
of  a  brain,  its  nerves,  its  sensory  ganglia,  and  a  member 
or  members  of  the  body,  such  as  hand  or  tongue,  to 
register  it. 

A  person  with  no  brain  can  show  no  intellect  ;  a  person 
with  no  members  is  equally  impotent.  While  only  the 
total  absence  of  brain  or  members  reduces  a  being  to  a 
zero,  it  is  nevertheless  demonstrable  that  an  injury  to  the 
brain  structure,  or  to  the  members,  must,  to  the  extent  of 
this  physical  injury,  diminish  the  power  of  the  intellect 
as  far  as  human  life  is  concerned. 

Thus,  if  the  brain  be  too  small  in  construction  or  sim- 


128  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

pie  in  its  convolutions,  as  in  the  brains  of  idiots,  the 
manifestations  of  intellect  become  less.  If  the  quantity 
of  the  brain  be  diminished  by  accident,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  New  England  man  who  had  a  rock-drill  driven 
through  his  head  by  the  unexpected  explosion  of  a 
supposed  dead  blast,  and  survived  with  diminished 
brain-power,  or  injured  as  by  alcohol,  according  to  the 
importance  of  the  brain  matter  removed  or  injured,  so 
will  the  exhibition  of  intellect  decrease. 

Whether  a  deficiency  of  the  brain  be  natural  or  arti- 
ficial, it  cannot  but  be  accompanied  by  a  deficiency  of 
intellect.  The  condition  of  the  brain  matter,  its  efficiency 
and  power  for  work,  depend  on  the  condition  of  the  blood 
it  receives  and  on  the  general  vitality.  If  a  man  be  dead, 
no  matter  what  the  size  of  his  brain,  no  manifestation 
of  intellect  can  take  place  from  him.  Any  disease  or 
physical  inability  which  approaches  a  man  to  death  must 
according  to  its  importance  decrease  his  mental  capacity. 
So  the  health  of  the  brain  and  its  capacity  of  exercise 
depends  on  the  health  of  the  liver,  stomach,  and  of  the 
vital  organs,  as  well  as  upon  the  normal  activity  of  its 
own  structure. 

Two  things  are  deducible  from  these  facts  : 

First.  The  necessity  of  bodily  health  and  force  for  the 
full  and  healthy  use  of  the  brain. 

Second.  The  importance  in  marriage  of  breeding  to  a 
mate  with  a  brain  capacity  sufficient  to  insure  good  intel- 
lectual manifestations. 

The  experiments  in  the  New  York  Reformatory  with 


THOUGHTS.  129 

exercise,  regular  diet,  and  occupation,  have  had  a  more 
beneficial  effect  on  the  morals  of  the  inmates  than  any- 
thing heretofore  tried.  The  result  of  these  experiments 
show  the  intimate  relation  of  bodily  health,  in  which  I 
include  the  health  of  nerves  and  brain,  with  morality. 

Exercise,  occupation,  and  a  regular  life  promote  health 
and  consequently  morality.  The  thoroughly  healthy  man 
is  a  moral  man.  Ill-health  endangers  morality.  Im- 
morality certainly  destroys  health.  The  one  reacts  on 
the  other. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  call  attention  to 
the  inadvisability  of  selecting  an  unhealthy  location  or 
vocation  for  your  activities.  It  is  rare  that  an  increase 
in  pay  ever  compensates  for  the  difference  in  risk  between 
healthy  and  unhealthy  occupations  or  places.  In  un- 
healthy locations,  in  fact,  the  compensation  generally  is, 
or  soon  becomes  less  than  it  is  for  similar  service  in 
healthy  regions.  The  risk  to  health  is  the  last  one  a 
man  should  take.  It  not  only  effects  him  but  him  in 
his  children,  and  he  is  thus  handicapped  in  the  contest  of 
evolution. 

A  malarious  region  or  one  unhealthy  from  any  cause 
should  be  avoided.  No  pay  that  you  will  ever  receive 
can  compensate  you  for  the  risks  you  run. 

It  is  in  such  regions  not  a  matter  of  risk,  except  as  to 
a  positive  break-down,  but  a  matter  of  certainty  that 
your  general  vitality  will  be  lowered  and  your  force 
diminished.  Climates  or  conditions  in  the  evolution  of 
man  have  made  him  Black,  Yellow,  Brown,  Red,  or  White, 

9 


130  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

have  given  him  resistance  of  malarial  fevers  in  one  place 
and  resistance  to  pneumonia  or  consumption  in  another. 
Thus  the  White,  going  into  the  tropics,  dies  of  malaria 
and  liver  troubles  and  of  fevers,  such  as  yellow-fever,  in 
much  larger  proportion  than  the  dark  natives,  long  since 
well  weeded  out  of  susceptible  individuals.  The  Negro, 
on  the  other  hand,  going  to  the  north,  dies  more  fre- 
quently than  the  White  from  pneumonia  and  consump- 
tion for  the  same  reasons. 

Climate  is  not  everything  in  man's  activity,  as  some 
suppose,  for  we  find  not  only  the  lazy  in  the  tropics,  like 
the  Tahitians,  Hawaians,  Negritos,  Ashantees,  etc.,  but 
the  industrious  like  the  Fellahs,  Indian  Ryots,  Mexican 
peasants,  etc.  Vitality  and  activity  seem  largely  due 
however,  to  climate  and  situation.  Thus  swamps,  towns, 
tenements,  etc.  are  bad,  but,  as  to  their  effect  on  activity, 
may  be  neutralized  by  some  artificial  condition  furnish- 
ing a  motive  for  effort.  Greece,  in  its  present  social  and 
political  inaninity  of  decay,  has  a  climate  doubtless  but 
little  changed  from  that  prevalent  during  its  period  of 
glory. 

Human  greatness  is  then  clearly  not  a  matter  of  climate 
alone  ;  nevertheless,  the  great  civilizations  of  man  have 
not  arisen  south  of  Egypt,  nor  north  of  the  Arctic  Circle. 
Consequently,  it  is  reasonable  to  say  that  great  continued 
heat  or  excessive  cold  is  unfavorable  to  man's  progress, 
and  such  conditions  should  exclude  a  locality  as  a  place 
of  residence.  Everything  else  being  equal,  the  climate 
that  causes  the  least  strain  on  man's  constitution  and  is 


THOUGHTS.  131 

still  sufficiently  unfavorable  to  plant  life  to  demand  in- 
dustry in  agriculture  is  that  in  which  the  greatest  progress, 
may  be  expected  to  take  place.  The  greatest  progress 
heretofore  has  taken  place  in  such  climates.  The  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean  have  an  equable  climate,  but  one 
too  dry  for  agriculture  without  constant  effort.  England 
has  an  equable  climate,  but  too  moist  and  cool  to  be  pro- 
ductive without  effort.  In  tropical  islands  we  have  equa- 
bility, but  plant  life,  perhaps,  is  too  luxuriant  and 
productive  for  the  best  interests  of  man  in  progress. 

The  line  of  best  climate  may  be  moving  northward  on 
account  of  the  power  civilization  has  given  man  to  neu- 
tralize excessive  cold.  Cold  climates  seem  to  encourage 
and  even  produce  energy  ;  for  the  northern  man  in  this 
respect  surpasses  the  southern  in  every  country,  and  in 
many  cases  this  is  true  of  the  countries  themselves.  The 
Piedmontese  is  more  energetic  than  the  Neapolitan  ;  the 
Catalan  than  he  of  Malaga  ;  the  Alsatian  than  the  Pro- 
vencal ;  the  North  Irishman  than  the  man  from  Kerry  ; 
the  Scotchman  than  the  Cornishman  ;  the  Prussian  than 
the  Bavarian,  etc.  It  is  a  general  rule  with  numerous 
exceptions.  The  best  climate  for  a  permanent  residence 
would  appear  to  be  an  equable  one,  leaning  to  cold. 

A  good  rule  for  the  situation  for  the  residence  is  never 
to  place  it  in  a  narrow  valley.  My  rule,  while  on  a  West- 
ern camping  expedition,  was  never  to  pitch  a  camp  in  a 
swail  or  low  place,  no  matter  how  convenient  it  might  be. 
This  was  on  account  of  the  naked  watersheds  in  that 
country,  from  which  a  diluvial  rain  descends  with  a  sud- 


132  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

den  volume  destructive  to  everything  in  its  path.  While 
our  watersheds  elsewhere  are  still  forested  there  is  less 
danger,  but  they  are  being  rapidly  stripped  or  burned  off, 
making  them  as  little  capable  of  absorbing  or  detaining 
water  as  those  of  the  arid  west.  In  other  places  dams 
may  exist  or  be  built  at  the  headwaters  of  such  valleys. 
These  frequently  burst  as  did  that  in  the  Conemaugh 
Valley.  This  accident  destroyed  millions  of  property  and 
three  thousand  five  hundred  lives,  all  situated  or  living  in 
this  narrow  valley. 

Every  year  we  hear  of  dreadful  holocausts  of  this  kind. 
It  is  a  simple  matter  to  avoid  this  danger  by  not  building 
or  living  in  a  valley  subject  to  inundation. 

Unhealthy  vocations  should  be  avoided  on  the  same 
grounds.  There  is  nothing  that  will  compensate  a  man 
for  the  loss  of  health  in  himself,  as  it  undoubtedly  will  be 
transmitted  to  his  children.  The  importance  of  this  may 
be  understood  by  an  examination  of  the  death-rates  in 
vocations.  Samuel  Royce  says  that  the  tailors  of  London 
show  a  death-rate  57  per  cent,  higher  than  that  of  agri- 
culturists, and  the  printers  of  the  same  city  are  said  to 
have  the  remarkable  excess  of  death-rate  of  117  per  cent. 

In  an  electrical  workshop  in  Paris  thirty-two  of  the 
thirty-five  workmen  were  found  to  have  consumption. 
Many  of  them  contracted  the  disease  in  this  shop,  while 
many  of  the  others  may  be  presumed  to  have  contracted 
it  in  the  same  line  of  work. 

Exemptions  of  soldiers  in  French  recruiting  show  also 
great  differences  due  to  occupation.  These  vary  from 


THOUGHTS.  133 

an  exemption  rate  of  46  in  the  hundred  in  agriculture  to 
83  per  hundred  in  scholars. 

The  very  bad  sanitary  effect  of  sedentary  scholasticism 
is  here  made  apparent.  The  exemption  of  the  scholar,  by 
the  Misna,  from  any  marital  duty  indicates  weakness  in  a 
still  more  important  line.  Sanitary  conditions  are  there- 
fore of  the  first  importance. 

First.  The  healthiness  of  the  locations  chosen  should 
be  certain. 

Second.  The  drainage,  disposition  of  refuse,  ventilation 
of  buildings,  etc.,  should  be  looked  too  so  that  the  health 
of  the  place  naturally  may  not  be  done  away  with  by  arti- 
ficial means. 

Third.  The  health  of  the  body  should  be  maintained 
by  exercise  and  occupation. 

A  sedentary  life,  which  is  idleness  of  the  muscles,  or  a 
lack  of  occupation,  which  is  idleness  of  the  brain,  is  ruin- 
ous in  either  case  to  the  part  affected.  Injury  to  one 
must  react  upon  the  other.  So  a  man  cannot  ruin  and  de- 
grade his  muscular  system,  without  injuring  not  only  his 
general  health,  but  his  intellectual  capacity  with  it,  and 
conversely,  injury  to  the  brain  or  its  degradation  by  idle- 
ness will  destroy  the  co-ordination  and  effectiveness  of 
the  muscles,  and  result  either  in  early  death  or  a  weak 
progeny  or  both  ;  the  end  being  the  extermination  of  the 
family. 

Therefore  undue  use  of  either  the  brain  or  the  muscles 
to  the  neglect  of  the  other  should  be  avoided.  Our  de- 
velopment must  be  on  the  brain  road  ;  the  muscular 


134  TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 

exercise  is  consequently  mainly  useful  through  the  neces- 
sity of  a  healthy  body  to  carry  the  brain. 

A  look  back  at  the  recorded  experience  of  mankind 
shows  that  the  great  reforms  from  which  progress  took 
new  life  have  very  seldom  originated  or  been  maintained 
by  the  class  in  control  at  the  time  any  reform  originated. 
The  knowledge  of  the  day  has  generally  been  able  to 
make  a  good  case,  showing  that  these  innovations  were 
either  bad  or  altogether  impossible. 

The  knowledge  of  the  day  was  wrong.  The  lesson  to 
be  learned  from  this  is  that  a  controlling  class  is  ever  in 
danger  of  becoming  a  slave  to  routine.  The  rich  by  in- 
heritance become  rut-bound.  The  comfort  of  their  posi- 
tion leads  them  to  oppose  change,  and  they  take  little 
trouble  to  examine  proposed  reforms.  Scholastic  writers 
in  the  hope  of  gain  defend  this  conservatism,  and  ease  the 
conscience  of  the  wealthy  even  upon  the  most  absurd 
propositions. 

Change  and  new  conditions,  more  than  anything  else, 
lead  to  a  development  of  the  brain.  So  we  find  the 
world's  outbursts  of  intellectual  light  to  have  been  accom- 
paniments of  great  changes  in  the  conditions  of  the  soci- 
eties in  which  they  occurred.  These  changes  have  often 
resulted  in  placing  the  top  class  at  the  bottom  and  the 
bottom  on  top.  The  importance  of  watching  for  new 
movements  and  new  reforms  must  be  clear.  If  you  wish 
to  improve  you  must  progress,  and,  therefore,  more  for 
your  children  than  for  yourself,  you  must  be  ready  for 
change. 


THOUGHTS.  135 

You  should  make  it  a  policy  to  try  change  and  to  be 
habitually  reformers.  Always  seek  out  improvement, 
never  be  satisfied  with  what  is.  The  present  condition  of 
mankind  is  a  misery.  Its  only  mitigation  is  that  it  is  a 
stepping-stone  to  something  better  which  the  progressive 
may  enjoy  in  their  children.  Families,  tribes,  and  races 
of  men  have  disappeared  and  been  exterminated,  and 
many  of  those  now  existing  will  be  annihilated,  and  so 
will  you  if  you  fall  behind  the  wave  of  evolution.  By 
universe  time  it  will  not  be  long  before  the  earth  will  be 
uninhabitable  to  the  present  type  of  man.  I  cannot 
bring  myself  to  think  that  all  this  earth's  evolution  is  to  be 
swept  out  of  existence  and  go  for  nothing  ;  on  the  con- 
trary, it  seems  to  me  more  probable  that  evolution  will 
continue,  and  that  the  future  man  will  be  at  last  as  far 
ahead  of  the  present  man  as  he  of  to-day  is  above  the 
grubbing  worm. 

I  therefore,  my  children,  commend  you  to  a  radicalism 
with  reasonable  conservatism  keeping  sound  on  the  repro- 
ductive question  until  the  race  rises  beyond  this  necessity. 
At  this  time,  if  it  come,  what  I  have  written  will  be  left 
unread.  But  the  reproductive  capacity,  as  man  is  now 
constituted,  you  must  carefully  guard. 

In  the  improvement  of  fruit  many  good  varieties  have 
been  obtained  by  the  care  of  man.  Of  these,  not  a  few 
are  weak  in  reproductive  power  or  quite  sterile,  such  as 
the  seedless  Navel  orange.  These  depend  for  their  con- 
tinuence  upon  the  artifices  of  man,  such  as  grafting,  etc. 
Such  fruits  left  to  themselves  would  promptly  disappear 


136  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

through  this  radical  fault.  Another  point  is  that  when 
the  reproductive  power  ceases,  improvement  also  ceases, 
and  no  further  advance  is  ever  possible  even  though  life 
be  maintained  by  artificial  means. 

In  several  places  I  have  spoken  of  nature  and  warned 
you  not  to  violate  her  laws.  This  is  very  good  advice,  but 
it  needs  some  explanation.  Persons  often  speak  of  na- 
ture's laws  as  though  they  understood  them  very  well.  I 
disclaim  any  such  knowledge.  Very  little  is  known  about 
nature.  The  little  information  we  have  is  but  a  smatter- 
ing, a  surface  skimming  from  an  infinitesimally  small  area. 
What  laws  we  have  found  may  be  modified,  we  know  not 
how,  by  other  laws  of  which  we  do  not  yet  dream. 

My  knowledge  on  these  points,  my  children,  is  unfor- 
tunately really  nothing.  You  must  not  fall  into  the  error 
of  receiving  all  I  say  as  unchangeable  fact,  for  you,  then, 
like  so  many  seeming  wise  people, would  be  but  the  slaves 
of  authority.  It  has  been  my  aim  mainly  to  call  your  at- 
tention to  the  possibility  of  an  earthly  immortality  through 
your  children  and  descendants,  and  of  a  probability  of  a 
continuation  of  evolution  to  a  perfected  and  self-sustain- 
ing race.  Your  only  means  of  partaking  of  such  future 
life  is  by  reproduction. 

In  being  radicals,  and  studying  and  working  ever  for 
improvement,  do  it  as  far  as  your  capacity  will  allow  in 
harmony  with  the  principles  underlying  all  life.  Nature 
then  must  be  your  study.  Never  allow  authority  to  be 
your  teacher,  but  place  it  where  it  belongs,  as  a  finger-post 
showing  short-cuts  to  knowledge.  The  only  teacher  for 


THOUGHTS.  137 

real  knowledge  is  observation  or  experience.  Nor 
should  you  overlook  the  fact  that  the  works  of  man  are  as 
much  a  part  of  nature  as  is  the  mountain  or  forest.  The 
city  is  as  much  the  result  of  natural  laws,  as  is  the  burrow 
of  the  squirrel  or  the  populous  hill  of  the  industrious  ant. 

Everything  on  the  earth  is  subject  to  natural  law,  and 
is  the  result  of  natural  action.  All  progress  must  be  ac- 
cording to  natural  laws,  and  nothing  can  be  accomplished 
beyond  the  limitations  set  by  our  environment.  "The 
action  of  environment  is  the  primordial  factor  of  organic 
evolution." 

Nevertheless,  our  own  constitutions  and  powers  may 
change,  nay,  must  change;  and  the  impossible  of  to-day 
will  become  the  commonplace  of  to-morrow. 

It  is  by  a  careful  study  of  nature  that  we  can  best 
guide  ourselves  to  progress.  For  by  such  knowledge  we 
will  not  be  so  inconsequent  in  throwing  ourselves  into  a 
contest  for  which  we  are  in  no  way  prepared,  but  for 
which,  by  care,  we  may  be  ready  in  our  descendants  in 
the  future. 

A  regular  recurring  day  of  relief  from  routine,  either  by 
rest  or  recreation,  has  been  a  feature  in  the  plan  of  every 
religious  legislator.  In  this  Moses  was  preceded  and  has 
been  followed.  Let  no  inducement  lead  you  to  abandon 
a  day  of  rest.  It  is  at  such  times  that  the  mind  and 
nervous  powers,  freed  from  the  drain  of  routine  work,  may 
be  directed  in  reflection  to  improvement. 

The  races  with  a  day  of  rest  have  without  an  exception 
a  superior  position  in  every  way  to  those  with  none.  In 


138  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

nothing  is  this  more  noticeable  than  in  industrial  life, 
where  one  would  think  the  loss  of  a  day's  work  in  seven 
would  be  felt.  Industrially,  the  rest-day  keepers  almost 
in  proportion  to  the  strictness  of  their  rest  surpass  non- 
resting  or  partial-resting  competitors.  For  the  product 
and  advance  of  society,  and  above  all  for  the  individual 
human  being,  it  will  be  of  advantage  to  adhere  to  a  day 
of  rest. 

It  will  not  be  wise  to  cast  aside  too  lightly  the  customs 
of  society.  In  dress,  for  instance,  there  is  a  revolt  among 
reasonable  persons  against  the  fashions  of  women's  cloth- 
ing, which  renders  them  incapable  of  the  same  physical 
activity  as  men.  I  sympathize  with  the  proposed  reform. 
In  thinking  over  this  subject,  however,  it  occurs  to  me 
that  there  may  be  some  philosophy  in  their  fashions.  In 
the  least  civilized,  speaking  generally,  there  is  the  least 
drawback  in  dress  to  women's  activity,  and  in  the  most 
civilized  the  greatest.  High-heeled  shoes,  corsets,  long 
skirts,  unmanageable  hats,  veils,  etc.,  are  from  an  artistic 
point  of  view  rarely  beautifiers.  The  pinched  feet  of 
high  society  Chinese  women  are  certainly  not  pretty. 
These  inventions  are  those  of  civilized  or  semi-civilized 
man,  not  of  savages. 

From  some  points  of  view  these  dress  fashions  are  not 
favorable  to  childbearing,  but  from  others  they  are  dis- 
tinctly so.  All  these  limiting  fashions  tend  to  keep  women 
out  of  the  contest  of  industrial  life,  and  consequently  con- 
fine them  to  home  or  at  least  to  social  life. 

Home  life  is  conducive  to  childbearing,  while  indus- 


THOUGHTS.  139 

trial  life  outside  of  the  home  is  to  women  a  discourager 
to  childbearing. 

The  improvement  in  the  condition  of  women,  brought 
by  civilization,  has  had  a  constant  effect  to  diminish  child- 
bearing,  tending  to  the  extermination  of  the  most  civi- 
lized. Whether  the  fashions  of  dress,  etc.,  have  any 
philosophical  basis  in  counteracting  this  influence  is  a 
matter  worthy  of  thought  and  study.  Fashions  in  dress 
come  and  go.  Some  of  them  are  said  to  have  had  a  dis- 
tinct object  in  their  origin.  Large  hoops,  for  instance,  it 
is  claimed  were  devised  to  secure  the  virtue  of  the  court 
ladies  of  France.  It  is,  however,  also  said  that  a  certain 
duchess  devised  them  to  conceal  a  conception  not  legiti- 
mately come  by. 

While  reforms  in  the  line  of  woman's  health,  such  as 
abolition  of  tight  lacing,  high-heeled  shoes,  etc.,  are  to  be 
commended,  radical  and  sudden  changes  should  not 
be  lightly  undertaken.  Before  women  can  be  completely 
emancipated  from  the  limitations  under  which  they  now 
live,  with  safety  to  the  reproduction  of  the  best,  they  must 
consider  reproduction  the  highest  and  grandest  point  to 
which  they  can  attain,  and  be  ready  to  sacrifice  every- 
thing to  achieve  this  glory.  This  is  not  now  the  case. 

In  the  ordinary  social  life  certain  things  are  done  that 
are  directly  disadvantageous,  to  gain  advantage  in  another 
direction  that  will  more  than  counterbalance  the  first  loss. 
As  an  illustration  of  this  point  we  may  mention  the  uni- 
form of  soldiers.  These  are  rarely  without  more  or  less 
tinsel.  Cumbersome  hats  like  those  of  the  grenadiers  of 


140  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

the  guard,  uncomfortable  coats,  epaulettes,  ornaments, 
and  unstable  colors,  cuirasses,  helmets,  etc.  ;  all  these 
are  detriments  to  the  soldier  in  his  soldier's  work  of 
campaigning  and  killing.  But  the  disadvantage  of  these 
is  much  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  interest  and 
pride  of  the  soldier  in  the  pomp  and  glory  of  his  uniform. 
Thus  men  are  more  easily  induced  to  follow  the  life  of 
a  soldier. 

There  is,  by  the  way,  no  occupation  so  likely  to  leave 
one's  faculties  unused,  and  therefore  to  injure  what  facul- 
ties we  have  and  to  prevent  progress,  as  the  life  of  a  sol- 
dier in  peace.  Avoid  it  ;  but  while  doing  so  do  not  go  too 
far.  It  will  be  some  time  yet  before  the  individual  or 
family  can  hope  to  hold  what  he  or  it  is  incapable  of  de- 
fending. So  also  will  it  be  with  nations.  Some  prepara- 
tion and  training  for  defence  is  very  essential.  In  this 
connection  a  good  maxim  may  guide  you  :  "  The  best 
defence  is  attack."  That  is,  when  it  becomes  evident 
that  you  must  fight,  make  the  fighting  yourself  and  make 
it  hot. 

Wise  courage  is  the  prudent  guide  by  the  best  road  to 
safety.  Wise  fear  is  the  same.  True  cowardice  is  the 
avoidance  of  present  evils  to  encounter  more  grievous 
ones  later.  Prudence  will  often  demand  from  the  far- 
seeing  what  to  the  to-day-man  will  seem  rash  risking. 
Audacity  is  often  the  highest  prudence.  As  a  general 
rule  what  the  world  calls  cowardice  is  the  most  imprudent 
course  to  follow. 

In  a  charge,  for  instance,  it  is  usually  safer  to  go  clear 


THOUGHTS.  141 

through  into  the  enemies'  works  than  to  go  half  way  and 
then  turn  back.  It  is  harder  to  hit  an  armed  man  rush- 
ing toward  you  than  to  shoot  him  when  running  away. 
If  a  soldier  shirks  his  duty  altogether  he  is  likely  to  be 
shot  for  desertion  ;  consequently  courage  as  a  rule  ex- 
poses the  individual  soldier  to  the  least  risks.  Society's 
standard  for  courage  is,  of  course,  derived  from  its  own 
interest  and  not  that  of  the  individual.  It  is,  therefore, 
not  a  complete  guide  for  the  safest  conduct.  Society's 
necessities,  however,  oblige  it  to  punish  self  safe-seeking 
to  the  injury  of  the  body  politic.  Where  the  natural 
punishment  of  society's  standard  of  cowardice  is  not  suf- 
ficient, society  sets  up  an  artificial  punishment  to  protect 
itself,  and  to  harmonize  individual  self-interest  with  the 
interest  of  society. 

Life  itself  is  a  contest.  It  is  the  contest  that  forces  the 
use  and  improvement  of  our  faculties. 

One  of  the  things  to  remember  is  to  work  and  keep 
your  own  counsel.  Talk  if  you  will,  but  tell  nothing. 
What  is  better  is  to  do  and  let  others  talk.  In  trouble 
remember  the  French  maxim,  "  When  the  criminal  speaks 
the  prosecution  is  instructed,"  or  another,  u  He  who  ex- 
cuses himself  accuses  himself." 

Man  is  yet  dazzled  by  show,  but  he  is  attracted  and 
awed  by  mystery.  Therefore  the  silent,  about  whose 
plans  no  one  is  informed,  command  attention  and  re- 
spect when  a  full  confession  of  their  schemes  would  only 
have  let  loose  criticism  and  excited  resistance.  In  an- 
other old  maxim,  speech  is  compared  to  silver,  but  silence 


142  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

to  gold.  When  talking,  one's  powers  are  used  in  enunci- 
ation and  one's  attention  is  largely  fixed  on  maintaining 
one's  own  argument  connected.  Therefore  a  talker  can 
observe  less  of  what  is  taking  place  about  him  than  the 
silent.  The  silent  man  can  be  on  the  watch  for  charac- 
ters, tendencies,  sympathies,  prejudices,  etc.  in  others, 
which  he  can  use  to  his  own  ends.  His  silence  gives 
power.  Talk  in  quantity  is  sometimes  good,  but  as  a  rule 
it  excites  argument  and  resistance.  When  we  would  con- 
vince or  convert  others,  the  true  policy  is  to  suggest  the 
idea  for  them  to  follow,  rather  than  to  attempt  to  carry 
their  conversion  in  our  own  minds  and  by  our  own  trains 
of  thought.  In  other  words,  let  them  convert  themselves 
or  at  least  think  that  they  convert  themselves.  For  this 
policy  few  words  are  necessary.  A  fact  to-day,  a  hint  to- 
morrow, and  often  before  you  know  it  you  will  have  a 
disciple  to  out-Herod  Herod. 

You  must  always  remember  that  self-interest  is  the 
great  mover  of  mankind.  When  men  serve  you  their  in- 
terest must  be  served.  A  great  politician  under  our  cor- 
rupt system  needs  workers.  The  successful  in  this  line 
secure  their  agents  by  making  it  plainly  to  their  interest 
to  do  the  political  work.  This  means  corruption.  While 
politics  are  corrupt  you  should  never  make  a  business  of 
them.  Many  large  views  are  obtained  in  and  through  pub- 
lic office.  Responsibility  and  largeness  of  duty  ought  to 
improve  the  mental  faculties  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
deterioration  that  ever  attends  dishonesty  must  more  than 
counterbalance  any  gain  of  this  kind.  It  is  almost  irn- 


THOUGHTS.  143 

possible  to-day  to  do  anything  in  politics  without  corrup- 
tion. If  a  man  is  not  personally  dishonest  in  politics  he 
must  derive  advantage  from  the  dishonesty  of  others. 

The  progressive  degradation  of  politics  in  America 
doubtless  explains  the  progressive  weakening  of  our  pub- 
lic men.  In  a  crisis  like  the  Civil  War,  those  who  went 
to  the  front  were  able  to  secure  political  preferment  by 
merit  in  public  affairs,  and  not  as  much  as  now  by  com- 
binations, caucuses,  and  corruptions  ;  consequently  their 
characters  were  not  completely  contaminated.  A  total 
abstinence  from  public  affairs  is  not  wise  nor  advanta- 
geous. The  sensible  course  is  not  to  make  politics,  as  now 
constituted,  one's  business  and  means  of  livelihood,  nor 
ever  to  go  into  the  dirty  work  so  common  in  its  activities. 

In  any  effort  at  reform,  such  as  doing  away  with 
political  bosses,  remember  that  it  is  not  oversetting  the 
man  so  much  as  the  method  that  reform  will  give  results 
through. 

The  more  recent  advance  of  mankind  has  probably 
been  confined  to  the  north  temperate  and  semi-tropic 
zones.  From  our  own  knowledge  of  savages  and  barbari- 
ans, from  history  and  from  ancient  monuments  and  tradi- 
tion in  these  climates,  we  may  affirm  with  some  show  of 
accuracy  that  man  in  the  temperate  zone  was  first  a  hunter 
or  savage,  then  a  herdsman  or  barbarian,  and  last  an 
agriculturist  making  possible  extensive  manufacture  and 
commerce.  The  government  best  suited  to  these  condi- 
tions varies.  The  qualities  necessary  to  achieve  success 
as  a  savage  are  not  those  essential  to  do  this  in  a  civilized 


144  TASKS  BY    TWILIGHT. 

man.  The  savage  orator  and  audacious  fighter  holds  his 
tribe  as  their  political  chief,  while  the  same  result  is  best 
achieved  by  us  through  plots  and  caucuses,  money  and 
workers,  and  by  lying  and  cheating. 

Self-restraint  is  a  very  valuable  thing.  To  hold  back 
from  present  gratification  of  pleasure  or  passion,  to  avert 
future  ills  or  to  gain  a  future  benefit  is  a  quality  of  great- 
ness. A  present  sacrifice  of  pleasure,  if  practised  with 
judgment,  should  bring  a  great  future  store  of  enjoyment 
or  avert  a  great  future  store  of  pain.  The  application  of 
time  to  labor,  rather  than  to  what  is  called  pleasure,  is  of 
this  class.  Man  thus  obtains  capital  and  position  with 
which  to  maintain  and  rear  his  family.  Restraint  from 
illicit  sexual  intercourse  is  of  great  good.  Dignity  and 
purity  are  maintained,  and  the  forces  held  for  the  joy  of  love 
and  reproduction.  The  question  often  is,  Will  you  take  10 
per  cent,  from  your  pleasure  of  to-day  for  90  per  cent,  of 
your  pleasure  in  the  future  ?  Or  not  doing  so,  cause 
natural  effects  to  take  90  per  cent,  from  your  future 
pleasure  to  allow  yourself  10  per  cent,  to-day. 

Self-restraint  is  one  of  the  essentials,  but  it  may  be 
carried  to  excess,  as  we  see  in  misers. 

What  is  called  pleasure  as  a  pursuit  has  a  monotony 
and  an  absence  of  sound  object  that  defeats  itself.  Thus 
we  find  that  the  most  unhappy  and  miserable  people  are 
those  blase  by  a  continuous  pursuit  of  pleasure.  Blase 
people  are  never  found  amongst  the  industrious.  While 
all  work  and  no  play  makes  Jack  a  dull  boy,  so  all  play 
and  no  work  makes  John  a  worthless  man.  All  play  and 


THOUGHTS.  145 

no  work  has  but  one  end  as  regards  pleasure,  and  that  is 
its  destruction. 

One  of  the  so-called  pursuits  of  pleasure  practised  by 
perverse  persons  is  illicit  sexual  intercourse.  Even  if 
disease  does  not  come,  this  defeats  itself.  This  inter- 
course without  love  is  a  very  inferior  exhibition  of  lust. 
It  is  true  that  the  mere  act  of  reproduction  has  by  nature 
a  pleasure  for  man,  but  this  act  practised  with  prostitutes 
is  followed  by  a  disgust  that  to  a  great  degree  neutralizes 
the  animal  pleasure  of  the  act.  If  a  man  descends  at  all  to 
illicit  intercourse,  it  must  be  largely,  at  least,  confined  to 
prostitutes.  It  is  a  curious  medical  fact  that  more  vene- 
real disease  is  contracted  from  disgraced  women,  not 
regularly  so  known,  than  from  professional  prostitutes. 

Association  with  a  kept  woman  or  mistress  is  a  particu- 
larly perilous  form  for  illicit  intercourse  to  take.  If  she 
be  taken  a  virgin  and  acquire  your  love  and  respect  to  the 
point  of  inducing  marriage,  she  would  as  a  wife  bear  a 
cloud  on  her  reputation  that  society  would  not  forgive  ; 
and  she,  you,  and  the  children  born  would  all  feel  it.  A 
mistress  may  take  a  hold  on  the  affections  which  will 
discourage  marriage  or  cause  it  to  come  late,  if  at  all.  A 
mistress  may  come  to  love  her  master,  which  is  an  ex- 
ceedingly unpleasant  situation.  Such  a  woman  is  capable 
of  ruining  a  man's  life. 

Alphonse  Daudet  wrote  a  book,  Sappho,  dedicated  to 
his  son,  to  warn  him  from  this  very  danger.  It  is  much 
greater  than  one  might  at  first  sight  think.  I  know  of 
several  instances  where  mistresses,  discarded  for  wives, 


146  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

have  wrecked  families.  There  are  cases  on  record  where 
the  mistress  has  even  shot  down  and  killed  the  man. 

Life  with  a  mistress  is  a  revolt  against  one  of  the  foun- 
dations of  society  "  marriage,"  and  cannot  be  tolerated 
by  society  in  a  sound  condition.  Therefore  the  liaison 
must  be  kept  secret. 

In  the  heat  of  passion  the  Devil  may  not  seem  such  a 
bad  fellow  as  he  is  painted.  But  to  live  with  him  in  cold 
storage,  at  your  elbow,  cheek  by  jowl,  during  your  sober 
moments,  is  a  folly. 

"  The  Devil  in  sport  's  a  gay  partie  ; 
The  Devil  in  thought  's  a  cactus-tree." 

The  Devil  is  at  home  in  heat.  It  is  a  good  man's  pas- 
sion that  makes  him  friendly  with  the  fiend,  and  the  fiend 
is  lively  in  his  passion's  fires  ;  but  the  passion  gone,  cold 
thought  comes  in.  The  Devil  cannot  be  gay  in  such 
chilly  company,  and  the  Devil  either  leaves  or  makes  a 
very  uncomfortable  and  disagreeable  third  party  very 
much  de  trop. 

To  be  loved  by  a  mistress  is  to  have  the  fate  of  Prome- 
theus. To  love  a  mistress  is  to  wear  the  ears  of  an  ass 
if  not  the  horns  of  the  French.  The  chapter  on  Family 
Government  contains  some  further  points  on  this  subject. 

Love  is  the  spiritualized  instinct  of  reproduction.  As 
I  have  already  said,  its  God  amongst  the  Greeks  was  Cu- 
pid, the  child.  The  object  of  love,  as  implanted  in  us  by 
nature,  is  the  child.  This  is  its  fruit.  It  cannot  long 
exist  without  the  child.  The  world  continually  applies 


THOUGHTS.  147 

the  word  love  to  states  of  feelings  that  are  really  lust, 
friendship,  affection,  esteem,  or  something  else,  but  not 
love. 

Love  is  something  mysterious  and  beautiful.  In  its 
perfection  it  is  beyond  compare.  The  animal  passions 
which  form  its  basis  should  by  no  means  be  allowed  to 
drag  love's  beauties,  mysteries,  and  grandeurs  into  the 
mire  of  mere  lust. 

How  easy  restraint  in  these  matters  can  be  made,  may 
be  seen  by  the  fact  that  our  education,  excluding  married 
women  and  men  from  love  by  the  still  single,  prevents 
their  being  sexually  loved  by  the  single. 

In  a  healthy  society  such  unholy  love  is  very  rarely 
seen.  The  education  prevents  the  aberration.  Without 
the  education  certainly  there  is  no  way  to  explain  why 
the  single  should  not  be  as  likely  to  love  the  married  as 
to  love  other  single  persons. 

Love  flies  with  the  heart  at  first  from  maid  to  maid  and 
at  last  in  the  fire  of  passion  fuses  another  heart  to  yours. 
With  some  there  is  at  first  an  uncertainty  of  choice  ; 
therefore,  a  little  maxim  is  commended  to  keep  you  out 
of  trouble — "  Talk  love,  never  write  it." 

Men  should  marry  and  women  should  marry.  It  is  in 
the  child,  the  natural  bond,  that  their  instincts  and  pas- 
sions achieve  glory.  But  the  first  intuitive  excursions  of 
love  may  well  be  diplomatically  left  non-committal. 

Woman  is  like  the  sapphire,  beautiful  indeed,  but  to  be 
fully  appreciated  she  must  have  the  man  as  the  sapphire 
needs  the  diamond,  that  hard  and  brilliant  gem,  to  show 


148  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

its  attractions.  These  two  gems,  generally  so  excellent 
together,  do  not  always  constitute  a  good  combination. 
Their  sizes,  colors,  and  adaptabilities  must  be  harmonious 
to  make  a  successful  and  beautiful  jewel.  So  it  is  with 
men  and  women.  Each  individual  may  be  admirable,  but 
still  not  capable  of  making  a  happy  union  with  an  admir- 
able individual  of  the  opposite  sex.  The  casual  throwing 
together  of  men  and  women  in  matrimony  is  no  evidence 
of  a  correct  combination  lor  the  creation  of  the  child. 

It  is  a  kindly  rule  to  attribute  to  mankind  the  best 
motives  by  which  they  might  have  been  actuated  in  their 
doings.  The  reverse,  however,  is  the  common  and  un- 
comfortable practice.  All  men  have  some  imperfections  ; 
there  is  consequently  a  fellow-feeling  amongst  us  for 
errors.  One,  therefore,  who  looks  for  others'  defects  and 
pulls  them  into  the  light,  though  applauded  by  our  jeal- 
ousies, can  never  be  popular. 

The  weakness  of  mankind,  however,  makes  caution  in 
all  human  dealings  a  necessity.  Every  man  has  some 
angel  and  some  devil  in  him.  Look  for  the  angel  but 
guard  against  the  devil. 

In  common  business  intercourse  there  are  many  little 
things  of  value  to  an  observer  as  indications  of  character. 
The  man  with  the  diamond-pin  will  usually  be  of  a  spec- 
ulative disposition.  He  who  is  exact  and  punctual  in  all 
engagements  is  usually  conservative  and  honest.  The 
liar  in  small  things,  and  he  who  steals  others'  time  in  lack 
of  punctuality,  is  rarely  reliable.  The  observation  of 
such  every-day  traits  of  character  may  be  made  a  useful 


THOUGHTS.  149 

measure  for  larger  things.  It  is  indeed  curious  how  much 
of  a  person's  qualities  may  be  discovered  by  his  face, 
dress,  or  habits.  Thus  far  our  judgment  of  individuals 
from  such  sources  has  been  more  a  matter  of  instinct 
than  of  reason.  Likes  and  dislikes  at  first  sight  are  felt 
even  by  very  young  children.  These  instinctive  attrac- 
tions or  repulsions  extend  to  the  intercourse  of  man 
with  animals  and  of  animals  with  man. 

Such  impulses  derived  from  the  inherited  experience 
of  the  race  should  never  be  neglected.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  should  be  remembered  that  a  natural  repulsion, 
reliable  as  against  the  probability  of  pleasant  personal 
intercourse,  or  an  attraction  guiding  us  accurately  to  a 
sympathetic  nature,  may,  in  neither  case,  be  "an  index  to 
the  useful  or  undesirable  qualities  favorable  or  unfavor- 
able in  a  servant  or  an  agent.  An  old  saw  says,  "  The 
man  whom  the  town  dogs  follow  is  naught."  This  may 
be  remembered  in  figuring  up  the  value  of  social  qualities 
in  business  affairs. 

It  is  a  good  rule  to  follow  first  impressions  in  dealing 
with  mankind.  But  a  clear  and  catholic  view  of  our 
means  and  aims  should  guide  this  remarkable  instinct. 
Unconscious  cerebration  is  a  certain  element  in  brain- 
activity.  We  lose  a  name  and  cannot  recall  it  by  the 
will,  but  by  and  by,  when  we  are  thinking  of  something 
else,  it  comes  back  to  us.  The  intuitions  are  something 
of  this  nature.  As  we  say,  we  feel  things  are  thus  and 
so  ;  we  take  a  prejudice  for  or  against  a  person,  but  we 
cannot  formulate  a  reason. 


150  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

It  seems  strange  that  though  man  in  phrenology,  palm- 
istry, etc.,  has  so  often  tried  to  formulate  these  feelings, 
so  well  recognized,  into  a  reliable  science,  he  has  thus  far 
failed  in  securing  the  approval  of  the  judicious. 

The  changed  condition  under  which  men  live,  com- 
pared to  those  of  a  few  thousand  years  ago,  should  be 
deemed  a  sufficient  cause  to  make  us  question  carefully 
a  first  prejudice  for  or  against  a  person.  Qualities,  good 
or  bad,  for  a  former  condition,  the  opinion  of  which  we 
inherit  in  an  instinct,  may  be  of  different  social  effect  at 
this  time. 

It  has  been  frequently  said  that  genius  is  kin  to  insan- 
ity. It  is  a  saying  altogether  untrue.  A  man  who  sees 
too  far  ahead  of  his  contemporaries  to  be  understood  is 
generally  accused  by  their  stupidity  with  craziness,  but 
his  genius  in  so  perceiving  the  truer  and  higher  relation 
of  things  is  not  the  result  of  a  defect  of  mind,  but  of  a 
superiority  of  mind.  So,  also  in  other  manifestations  of 
genius. 

The  over-use  of  the  highest  intellectual  qualities,  like 
their  insufficient  use,  may  disease  or  destroy  the  brain 
medium  of  their  manifestations  as  in  Swift,  Pascal,  and 
in  other  remembered  men.  Genius,  in  itself,  however, 
can  have  no  possible  kinship  with  insanity. 

Insanity  is  a  paralysis  of  the  highest  brain  functions, 
and  is  indicated  not  by  any  high  mental  manifestations, 
but  by  the  uncontrollable  or  ill  co-ordinated  activities  of 
lower  brain  centres.  Insanity  is  a  disease  of  the  highest 
brain  tissue  and  debilitates  if  it  does  not  destroy  its 


THOUGHTS.  151 

powers.  It  is  of  exactly  the  same  character  of  paralysis 
that  we  see  in  the  motor  centres  situated  in  the  lower 
spinal  column  when  locomotor  ataxia  appears.  In  this 
disease,  this  nervous  centre  is  attacked  and  its  progressive 
paralysis  is  shown  in  the  progressive  loss  of  motion  and 
control  of  motion  in  the  legs,  not  by  a  superiority  of  mo- 
tion anywhere. 

If  one  desires  to  be  a  stranger  to  imagination  in  others, 
there  is  no  place  so  certain  to  realize  this  desire  as  an  in- 
sane asylum.  The  poverty  of  thought  in  the  hospitals  of 
the  unfortunate,  whose  higher  qualities  have  gone  leaving 
the  lower  ones  without  a  head,  is  striking  to  one  expect- 
ing to  find  in  them  some  confirmation  of  the  popular 
saying. 

Genius  should  be  sought.  Insanity  should  be  avoided. 
The  searcher  may  rest  assured  that,  while  he  may  find 
geniuses  who  have  become  insane,  he  will  never  find 
genius  in  the  insane. 

One  of  our  customs  that  is  most  often  decried  is  the 
indulgence  of  gossip.  It  is  generally  spoken  of  as  wholly 
bad.  The  truth  is,  however,  that  it  is  of  great  value. 
The  decrease  of  gossip  in  this  country  is  really  a  cause  of 
alarm.  Gossip  is  the  executioner  of  the  unwritten,  social 
law.  Many  a  man  and  women  is  kept  in  the  traces  by  the 
fear  of  what  people  will  say.  Other  reasons  hold  them, 
but  this  is  the  most  potent  to  keep  them  good.  This,  of 
course,  is  only  true  when  the  standard  of  society  is 
correct. 

Social  rules  have  been  evolved  from  man's  experience 


152  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

and  are  for  the  benefit  of  humanity.  They  change  ac- 
cording to  his  needs.  To  openly  violate  a  social  tenet 
will  make  the  individual  uncomfortable,  at  least.  Conse- 
quently such  rules  should  be  observed.  The  fashion 
now  is  to  denounce  large  families.  Such  a  fatal  aberra- 
tion of  course  must  not  be  bowed  to.  This  fashion  be- 
came prevalent  in  the  Sandwich  Islands.  Under  it  the 
native  population  has  decreased  from  400,000  to  less  than 
20,000  in  seventy  or  eighty  years.  It  is  true  that  the 
vices  and  diseases  of  the  civilized  are  exceedingly  fatal 
to  most  savages.  Smallpox,  for  instance,  in  1853,  the 
first  year  of  its  introduction  to  Honolulu,  destroyed  one 
half  the  native  population  ;  but,  besides  this,  savages  in 
contact  with  the  civilized  seem  incapable  or  unwilling  to 
breed. 

As  an  Indian  Commissioner  I  have  observed  the  fact 
that  those  Indians  near  the  white  settlements  lose  their 
reproductive  power  as  compared  to  those  farther  removed 
from  this  influence. 

For  instance,  in  two  Indian  villages  of  Southern  Cali-. 
fornia,  Sequan  and  Los  Coyotes,  there  is  in  each  nearly 
the  same  population,  between  eighty  and  ninety.  The 
first  is  near  the  city  of  San  Diego,  and  subject  to  the  in- 
fluences of  civilization.  There  were  in  this  place  in  my 
last  visit  only  eight  children  and  no  babies.  Los  Coyotes 
is  on  the  desert  side  of  the  Sierra,  far  from  any  "white  set- 
tlement or  route  of  travel.  There  were  at  the  same  time 
thirty-four  children  at  this  settlement.  Whether  fashion 
pr  disease  is  the  main  cause  of  these  diminished  popula- 


THOUGHTS.  153 

tions,  the  extermination  that  has  overtaken  the  Tasmanian 
and  so  many  of  the  American  tribes  awaits  them.  So  also 
it  awaits  us  if  this  fashion  prevail.  We  must  avoid  this 
rock. 

The  destruction  of  these  isolated  and  sometimes  Ar- 
cadian populations  on  their  contact  with  our  cruel  civiliza- 
tion shows  us  something  else.  It  is  that  it  will  not  do  to 
attempt  an  escape  from  plain  present  evils  by  going  out 
of  the  movement  of  the  world.  If  whole  populations  have 
been  swept  away  in  a  few  years,  owing  to  their  not  being 
inured  to  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  civilization,  we 
must  anticipate  a  similar  fate  in  the  future  for  populations 
similarily  situated.  Consequently,  distant  islands  or 
secluded  valleys  are  contra-indicated  for  homes. 

No  thought  is  better,  no  effort  more  useful  than  that 
which  seeks  to  find  how  to  perpetuate  and  improve  life 
in  reproduction. 

The  motive  for  good  deeds  furnished  by  the  religious 
legislators  of  the  past  was  a  part  and  interest  in  eternity. 

No  motive  can  be  greater.  The  things  of  this  world 
must  indeed  seem  paltry  in  contrast  to  such  an 
expectation. 

Let  us  then  seize  upon  this  motive.  Let  us  prove 
its  reality  and  possibility,  and  let  our  aims  be  to  keep 
forever  lighted  the  sacred  fires  of  life  that  burn  in  our 
existence.  This  we  can  do  in  our  children. 

A  part  in  eternity  is  made  possible  by  procreation. 
The  Child  then  is  our  Future.  It  should  be  our 
Religion. 


DIET. 

LIFE  in  man  involves  a  continuous  waste  and  wear 
in  the  vital  machinery,  and  requires  for  its 
manifestation  a  supply  of  fuel  or  alime'nt.  The  restricted 
capacity  of  the  human  being  as  to  aliment-storage  requires, 
as  an  absolute  essential  to  life,  a  frequent  renewal  of 
supply.  In  practice  we  find  it  best  to  make  this  renewal 
from  twice  to  three  times  in  the  twenty-four  hours. 

The  word  diet  as  used  in  this  chapter  is  understood  to 
mean  all  things  taken  by  man  to  provide  energy,  and  to 
replace,  retard,  or  accelerate  waste,  and  the  manner  of 
taking  these. 

Diet  in  its  completeness  comprises  what  we  eat  in  foods, 
what  we  drink  in  fluids,  what  we  breathe  in  the  air,  and 
what  we  use  in  narcotics,  stimulants,  or  drugs. 

The  best  diet  varies  with  age,  idiosyncrasy,  occupation, 
health,  and  with  climate.  Thus  in  age  : — The  food  of  the 
babe  is  properly  confined  to  milk.  For  the  strong  man 
this  food  is  too  dilute  and  bulky  to  be  a  complete  diet. 
So  the  food  of  the  adult  with  teeth  and  a  completed 
digestive  apparatus  is  altogether  unsuited  to  the  babe 
without  teeth,  and  with  a  small  stomach  and  simple 
organs  of  assimilation.  With  old  age  and  the  loss  of 

154 


DIET.  155 

teeth  a^id  digestive  vigor  and  lessened  capacity  for  labor, 
the  foods  of  the  child  may  again  become  appropriate. 

Thus  in  idiosyncrasy  : — In  general,  fish  form  a  good 
element  in  diet ;  still  with  some  they  produce  indigestion 
or  marked  constitutional  disturbance.  Strawberries, 
usually  agreeable  and  easy  of  disposition  by  the  internal 
economy,  with  some  produce  a  rash.  Milk,  generally 
acceptable  at  all  ages,  and  in  its  constituents  a  perfect 
food,  with  some  produces  indigestion  so  marked  as  to 
make  it  unavailable  as  an  article  of  diet.  Apples,  an 
excellent  fruit  for  most,  produce  in  some  disorders  which 
I  have  even  known  to  go  to  the  extent  of  causing  tem- 
porary diabetes  whenever  this  food  was  eaten. 

Eggs  are  almost  universally  friendly  to  the  system,  and 
are  a  perfect  food  as  to  all  the  necessary  constituents ; 
still  they  cause  serious  trouble  to  some  persons  when 
eaten,  even  convulsions  occasionally  resulting  from  their 
ingestion.  I  have  a  case  of  this  kind  in  one  of  my  chil- 
dren. He  can  eat  no  eggs  nor  anything  containing  them 
without  distress,  and  has  had  this  peculiarity  from  the 
first  time  he  took  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  foods  and  combinations  of  food 
generally  disadvantageous,  such  as  lobsters  and  milk  or 
cherries  and  milk,  etc.,  seem  to  have  no  bad  effects  on 
some  people. 

Thus,  in  occupations,  a  full  diet  of  coarse  food  will  be 
not  only  appropriate,  but  as  to  its  fulness,  essential  to 
the  health  and  activity  of  a  physical  worker  in  the  open 
air.  To  the  same  person  in  a  sedentary  pursuit  such  a 


156  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

diet  would  cause  inconvenience,  doubtless  to  be  followed 
by  ill  health.  The  brain  worker  needs  as  liberal  a  support 
as  does  the  muscle  worker,  but  it  is  of  a  different  kind. 
The  economy  of  cookery,  that  is,  the  partial  digestion  of 
food  by  the  chemistry  of  cooking,  outside  of  the  body,  is 
particularly  advantageous  to  the  brain  worker. 

Thus  in  health  a  diet  may  be  good  or  bad,  according 
to  one's  condition.  A  person  in  perfect  health  has,  as  a 
rule,  a  pretty  wide  dietary  margin  ;  still  an  invalid's  diet 
of  soft  and  simple  foods  frequently  given,  is  quite  in- 
appropriate for  the  whilom  invalid  when  well.  So  also 
the  mixed  strong  diet  of  the  healthy  is  bad  for  the 
invalid.  The  well  man  requires  concentrated  food  in 
sufficient  quantity  to  obviate  the  necessity  of  a  feeding  so 
frequent  as  to  interfere  with  labor.  The  well  man's  diet 
probably  should  also  be  of  a  character  to  require  a  certain 
energy  in  the  digestive  organs. 

The  invalid,  on  the  other  hand,  requires  less  food,  for 
if  properly  treated  he  will  be  in  repose.  His  energies 
also  should  be  given  the  fullest  play  to  repair  the  ravages 
of  his  illness  and  to  drive  off  disease,  and  should  there- 
fore be  spared  from  all  unnecessary  digestive  work. 
Drugs  enter  the  diet  of  invalids  for  special  purposes, 
often  to  kill  or  to  deaden  specific  germs.  Their  effects 
on  the  normal  man  are  frequently  bad. 

Thus  a  diet  containing  considerable  arsenic  may  be 
advantageous  to  one  suffering  with  eczema,  while  to  a 
well  person  such  a  diet  would  probably  produce  some 
form  of  skin  trouble,  or  at  least  digestive  disturbance. 


DIET.  157 

In  Styria  this  drug  is  more  customarily  consumed  than  in 
other  portions  of  the  world.  Many  general  conditions  of 
the  population  of  that  district  would  indicate  that  its 
effects  are  physically  bad.  The  mothers,  for  instance, 
are  noticeably  lacking  in  lactation. 

A  diet  with  mercury  or  iodide  of  potassium  is  thought 
essential  for  one  suffering  with  that  dreadful  disease, 
"  syphilis."  Certainly  the  destructive  effects  of  these 
drugs  on  the  healthy  would  make  them  ill  advised  as  a 
general  addition  to  the  diet.  Iodide  of  potassium  pro- 
duces serious  irruptions  when  used  in  excess,  and  the 
effects  of  mercury  are  too  well  known  to  require  mention. 

Hospital  records  indicate,  and  certain  physicians,  friends 
of  mine,  estimate  the  proportion  of  the  population  in 
American  cities  more  or  less  tainted  with  syphilis  to  be 
very  considerable.  It  is  thus  seen  that  mercury  and 
iodide  of  potassium  are  or  ought  to  be  quite  important 
articles  of  diet.  As  an  indication  of  what  this  taint  may 
be,  we  may  take  the  figures  of  the  English  army  which 
show  a  proportion  of  one  in  three  treated  annually  for 
venereal  disease,  or,  to  be  exact,  329  cases  in  the  1,000. 
These  were  of  course  due  to  all  the  different  sorts  of 
venereal  diseases. 

Quinine  makes  a  good  addition  to  the  diet  of  a 
malarian,  but  the  effects  of  this  drug  on  the  digestion 
and  nervous  system  contraindicate  it  for  the  healthy. 

Cod-liver  oil  has  been  the  best  addition  ever  made  to 
the  diet  of  consumptives,  and  of  those  suffering  from 
some  other  similar  wasting  diseases.  It  is  also  good  in 


158  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

many  bad  constitutional  conditions,  for  instance,  eczema. 
But  in  large  quantities,  such  as  would  be  suitable  to 
tolerance  in  this  class  of  invalids,  this  food  would  be  dis- 
advantageous to  the  healthy,  as  encouraging  too  much 
the  formation  of  useless  adipose. 

Thus  in  climate,  the  fruits  of  the  tropics,  with  such 
grain  additions  as  rice  or  sago,  would  be  fatal  in  the 
arctic  zone  as  a  diet,  for  it  would  provide  insufficient 
calorific  to  resist  the  cold.  On  the  other  hand,  the  blub- 
ber food  of  the  Esquimaux  would  be  equally  inappro- 
priate at  the  equator.  A  long-continued  use  of  the 
foods  of  the  tropics,  or  the  diet  of  the  Icy  Circle,  renders 
man  incapable  of  modifying  his  digestive  apparatus  to  the 
use  of  the  dietary  extreme  opposite  his  own.  Thus  an 
Esquimaux  cannot  live  long  at  the  equator,  nor  can 
an  African  native  live  long  near  the  poles. 

In  a  less  degree  the  most  appropriate  diets  for  varying 
climatic  conditions  differ  everywhere.  The  importance 
of  a  careful  study  of  foods  and  of  conditions  will  be  more 
readily  perceived,  perhaps,  when  we  remember  the  diseases 
due  entirely  to  vicious  and  improper  diet. 

The  pellegra  is  a  disease  general  amongst  the  poor 
people  of  the  valley  of  the  river  Po  in  Italy.  The  misery 
and  distress  this  disease  causes  in  the  population  is  great. 
It  has  its  origin  in  the  diet  of  the  country,  which  is  largely 
composed  of  maize  or  corn.  This  is  eaten  generally  in 
a  condition  somewhat  fermented  or  spoiled. 

The  scurvy,  a  malady  most  frequent  formerly  at  sea, 
but  now  happily  but  little  known,  committed  at  one  time 


DIET.  159 

fearful  ravages.  Whole  ships'  crews  were  disabled  by  it ; 
whole  ships'  crews  occasionally  died  of  it.  Scarcely  ever 
was  a  voyage  of  any  duration  made  without  a  consider- 
able visitation  of  scurvy  to  the  crew.  Armies  like  that  of 
St.  Louis  in  Egypt  perished  of  it.  Scurvy  is  a  dietary 
disease  due  largely  to  the  continued  absence  of  vegetables 
or  fruit  acids  from  the  foods  used.  This  discovery  of 
the  fact  did  away  with  its  dangers. 

Recent  voyages  in  the  arctic  show  some  curious  things 
in  relation  to  scurvy.  Lemon  juice,  for  instance,  it  has 
been  found,  is  not  so  good  a  preventative  as  a  moderate 
amount  of  alcohol.  In  two  ships  in  the  same  expedition, 
one  using  lemon  juice  and  the  other  beer,  scurvy  ap- 
peared in  the  first  ship  and  could  not  be  eradicated, 
while  it  did  not  occur  at  all  in  the  beer-using  crew. 

It  is  now  certain  that  beer,  wine,  and  spirits  are  a  better 
preventative  in  the  arctic  against  scurvy  than  lime  juice, 
which  was  the  agent  heretofore  used  for  this  purpose. 

Ergotism  is  a  disease  prevalent  in  parts  of  Germany.  It 
is  due  to  a  parasite  of  the  rye.  This  grain  is  there  the 
one  most  used. 

Leprosy  is  another  dreadful  disease  partly  perhaps 
attributable  to  diet.  It  has  been  suffered  and  misunder- 
stood in  all  climates  and  in  all  quarters  of  the  world.  Its 
original  cause  is  said  to  be  the  use  of  stale  or  spoiled  fish, 
continuously  and  in  considerable  quantity,  as  food. 

Many  other  diseases  more  or  less  due  to  diet  might  be 
cited,  but  it  is  as  well  to  rest  with  these  certainties. 
With  this  information  further  looked  into  no  family  can 


l6o  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

be  careless  about  its  diet.  The  cases  of  poisoning  from 
canned  goods,  from  ice-cream,  from  spoiled  or  adulterated 
foods  are  the  underlinings  only  to  keep  one's  attention 
on  this  important  question. 

The  marked  effect  of  foods  upon  birds  and  animals 
is  indicated  by  their  flavor.  The  sage-hen  of  Utah  is 
exceedingly  sweet  and  delicate  to  the  taste,  in  the  spring  ; 
in  the  fall,  on  the  contrary,  it  has  a  rank  flavor  of  sage, 
due  to  its  feeding  at  this  time  principally  on  this  food. 
The  canvas-back  ducks  that  visit  the  Chesapeake  Bay  are 
deemed  by  epicures  to  be  the  best  for  the  table.  Their 
flavor  is  attributed  to  the  wild  celery  upon  which  they 
there  feed.  These  flavors  in  the  flesh  seem  always  in- 
fluenced by  diet.  The  same  influences  may  be  seen  in 
the  secretions  of  animals.  The  milk  of  cows  changes 
perceptibly  in  color,  specific  gravity,  flavor,  and  composi- 
tion with  changes  of  diet.  Hay  alone  will  make  the 
milk  specially  white  and  poor  in  cream  ;  alfalfa  will  make 
it  watery,  with  a  peculiar  and  not  over-pleasant  flavor. 
Carrots  in  quantity  will  give  a  rich  color  and  more  cream, 
etc.,  etc. 

Whether  effects  are  produced  by  foods  on  the  brain 
similar  to  those  on  the  muscles,  endurance,  and  flavor  of 
flesh  has  not  been  demonstrated.  The  popular  belief  in 
favor  of  this  opinion  should  be  presumed  to  have  some 
foundation  until  the  contrary  is  proved,  for  the  analogy 
is  too  strong  to  be  passed  by.  Even  vegetables  and 
fruits  of  identical  varieties  vary  in  flavor  in  a  marked 
manner  in  different  climates  and  soils,  that  is,  with  differ- 


DIET.  l6l 

ent  plant  foods  and  conditions.  Apples  in  the  North  are 
good,  in  the  South  poor ;  peaches  on  heavy,  wet  soils  are 
indifferent,  while  on  warm,  light  ones  they  reach  excel- 
lence ;  while  for  the  pear  the  conditions  are  reversed. 
The  effect  of  very  slight  differences  are  notorious  in 
grapes,  through  the  flavor  of  the  wine  made  from  them. 

Fanatics  and  empirical  reformers  every  now  and  then 
establish  some  dietary  regulation  as  a  part  of  their  creeds 
or  forms.  Sometimes  their  rules  are  based  on  very  sen- 
sible observations.  The  code  of  Moses  and  of  the  Talmud 
is  particularly  worthy  of  study.  Some  animals,  as  the 
pig  and  rabbit,  are  especially  subject  to  parasites  which, 
as  in  the  case  of  trichinae,  when  introduced  into  man  are 
dangerous.  The  meat  of  such  animals  should  be  well 
cooked,  with  a  view  to  destroying  its  dangers,  and  I 
believe  also  should  be  as  a  rule  avoided.  In  some 
countries,  as  a  few  years  ago  in  Cyprus,  all  animals  seemed 
to  be  more  or  less  infected  with  parasites,  and  several  of 
my  friends  contracted  parasites  in  that  island  as  they 
thought  from  eating  ill-cooked  meat,  the  meat  coming 
from  the  cattle  of  the  country. 

The  prohibition  of  certain  animals  for  eating  by  the 
early  religious  legislators  sometimes  grew  out  of  the  custom 
of  having  certain  animals  sacred  to  the  tribe.  Conse- 
quently we  cannot  give  too  much  attention  to  old 
dietaries,  for  these  were  often  made  not  upon  scientific 
reason,  but  upon  reasons  totally  disconnected  with  dietary 
advantages. 

The  ideas  and  codes  of  religious  sects  in  regard  to  food 


1 62  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

and  feeding  should  not  be  despised.  The  observance  of 
feasts  and  fasts  has  sound  reason  for  it.  To  astonish 
one's  stomach  occasionally  with  a  large  meal  of  a  different 
make-up  from  the  ordinary  is  usually  beneficial ;  so  also 
is  a  reasonable  and  occasional  fast  or  abstinence,  especi- 
ally in  the  spring  of  the  year.  Pregnant  women,  how- 
ever, are  excepted.  A  regular  life  and  a  regular  diet  is 
good,  but  it  should  be  tempered  by  a  little  judicious 
irregularity  to  be  best. 

Of  course  all  such  schemes  as  the  exclusion  of  meat  or 
animal  food,  or  the  exclusion  of  the  science  of  cooking 
from  the  preparation  of  food,  etc.,  are  not  to  be  thought 
of.  Such  ideas  are  the  follies  of  the  extremist.  The 
impossible  Hindoo  will  eat  nothing  that  has  been  deprived 
of  life.  He  tells  you  this  while  he  crushes  between  his 
teeth  the  life  germ  of  the  rice  seed,  and  while  he  mun- 
ches a  vegetable  torn  from  the  ground  and  dead.  Man 
is  a  predatory,  omnivorous  animal.  His  life  is  accom- 
panied always  by  the  destruction  of  other  life,  amount- 
ing daily  to  a  great  figure.  Hindoo  ideas  are  consequently 
not  now  practical. 

I  once  visited  a  colony  whose  rules  were  founded  on  a 
so-called  spiritual  revelation.  In  these  rules  all  animal 
or  cooked  food  was  excluded  from  the  diet.  Milk,  butter, 
cheese,  eggs,  and  all  meats  or  products  of  animals  were 
forbidden.  So  also  were  all  vegetables,  such  as  potatoes, 
which  cannot  be  eaten  raw.  I  took  dinner  with  them. 
The  meal  consisted  of  walnuts,  dried  apples,  raw  peanuts, 
and  raisins.  One  member  of  the  colony,  its  chief,  seemed 


DIET.  163 

to  thrive,  but  the  rest  were  weak  and  ethereal  in  appear- 
ance, and  incapable  of  prolonged  energetic  work. 

The  progress  of  man  is  not  likely  to  make  it  advan- 
tageous to  give  more  time  and  energy  to  digestion  than 
now.  This  would  be  the  case  were  an  exclusive  vege- 
table diet  adopted.  The  size  of  the  stomach,  jaw,  teeth, 
etc.,  is  diminishing  in  the  civilized  man.  It  is  therefore 
plain  on  this  account  alone  that  the  food  of  the  civilized 
must  be  more  concentrated  and  more  regularly  taken  than 
is  essential  with  the  savage.  A  caution  seems  appropriate 
in  this  connection.  In  our  progressive  change  toward 
more  concentrated  food,  we  should  expect  the  nerves 
giving  notice  that  a  sufficient  quantity  of  food  has  been 
taken,  to  be  often  deceived  by  the  difference  in  bulk 
and  quick  consumption  of  civilized  diet,  and  should 
consequently  avoid  the  danger  of  overeating. 

The  tendency  in  diet  has  been  toward  concentrated 
food,  easily  and  promptly  digested.  This  food  judiciously 
chosen  is  the  best,  for  it  gives  liberty  to  the  greatest 
amount  of  energy  for  other  achievement  besides  digestion. 
The  cow  eating  bulky  aliment,  which  to  be  digested, 
requires  to  be  chewed,  and  chewed  again  in  the  cud,  passes 
its  waking  hours  on  its  food  supply  and  assimilation. 
Such  an  animal  is  incapable  of  greatness.  The  digestive 
organs  of  the  horse  require  a  certain  amount  of  bulk  to 
work  well.  In  the  domestication  of  this  animal  the 
efforts  of  man  have  been  to  concentrate  the  food  used  as 
much  as  is  consistent  with  its  organs  of  assimilation,  and 
thus  to  apply  the  energies  of  the  horse  to  work  rather 


164  T ASA'S  BY   TWILIGHT. 

than  to  digestion.  A  horse  put  out  to  grass  without  work 
will  gain  in  size,  especially  the  stomach,  and  fall  off  in 
energy  :  with  work  on  a  grass  diet,  he  will  fall  off  both 
in  weight  and  energy. 

In  all  diets  the  machinery  and  mechanism  of  the  diges- 
tion, as  well  as  the  capacity  of  the  organs  themselves,  must 
be  considered  ;  consequently  a  grass  diet  can  never  be 
good  for  man,  because  his  stomach  and  vital  organs  are 
unsuited  to  such  food.  So  equally  a  meat  diet  would  not 
do  for  a  cow. 

As  the  egg  is  the  common  source  of  life  in  all  mam- 
mals, so  milk  is  the  common  food  of  the  young  of  all,  and 
the  milk  of  one  is  available  for  any.  Still  the  milk  varies, 
human  milk  having  most  sugar. 

As  the  lines  of  development  diverge,  so  the  food 
changes  ;  thus  we  may  presume  that  further  evolution  of 
man  will  involve  further  change  of  food.  In  fact,  a  care- 
ful examination  indicates  a  tendency  to  perform  digestive 
and  masticating  work  outside  the  body,  also  an  equally 
clear  tendency  toward  concentrated  forms  of  nourish- 
ment, leading  often  to  pure  stimulation  by  such  high  con- 
centrations as  we  find  in  alcohol.  The  increase  of  butter 
and  sugar  consumption  is  in  the  same  line.  All  the 
CHO  compounds  are  stimulating.  Inasmuch  as  the  evo- 
lution of  the  digestive  organs  to  meet  necessary  require- 
ments for  a  higher  life-organization  would  be  arrested  if 
diet  remained  unchanged,  we  must  perceive  that  persis- 
tance  in  the  statu  quo  of  diet  involves  stagnation  in  other 
lines.  Thus,  while  such  a  diet  would  avoid  the  loss  of 


DIET.  165 

many  individuals  and  of  more  or  less  discomfort  and 
danger  in  nearly  all,  it  would  also  eliminate  such  indi- 
viduals in  their  descendants  from  the  race  progress,  and 
eventuate  in  extermination. 

Radical  conservatism  in  diet  is  neither  scientific  nor 
safe. 

If  we  are  to  have  further  progress  in  the  human  race, 
it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  diet  will  be  much  modified, 
and  consequently  the  digestive  organs  modified  also  to 
meet  new  requirements.  We  have  something  of  this  kind 
in  the  loss  of  function  of  the  appendix  vermiformis. 

All  this  would  doubtless  be  in  the  line  of  economy 
in  time  and  energy  in  supplying  the  system  with  food. 

Consequently  a  race  or  family  not  progressing  in  this 
way,  would  soon  be  fatally  handicapped  in  the  life  struggle 
and  progress  of  humanity.  A  diet  thoroughly  in  har- 
mony with  our  present  digestive  organs  is  not  from  that 
fact  a  good  one.  It  may  be  good  for  the  individual. 

From  present  indications  we  can  judge  little  of  the 
future.  It  may  be  that  we  will  come  to  a  point  where  the 
alimentary  substances  will  be  taken  from  the  ground  by 
chemical  process,  without  the  intervention  of  plants  and 
animals.  We  may  also  come  to  a  point  where  the  entire 
preparatory  work  will  be  done  outside  of  the  body,  in 
which  case  we  may  take  a  hypodermic  injection  for  a 
dinner,  and  become  independent  of  mouth,  teeth,  stomach, 
and  intestines. 

We  may  consider  this  possibility  exceedingly  remote, 
but  we  should  never  lose  sight  of  the  modifications  that 


1 66  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

have  occurred  in  our  diet  and  in  our  digestive  tract,  nor 
of  the  probable  continuation  of  these  modifications  toward 
a  more  economical  method  of  supplying  our  vital  needs. 

As  far  as  our  digestive  organs  at  their  present  stage  of 
evolution  are  concerned,  it  has  been  ascertained  with 
sufficient  accuracy  for  all  intents  and  purposes,  what 
character  and  quantity  of  food  is  required  for  men  in  the 
temperate  zone.  We  have  prison  diets,  soldiers'  diets, 
sailors'  diets,  etc.,  now  arranged  on  a  scientific  basis  in 
place  of  the  old  empirical  one. 

Yeo's  table  for  the  adult  is  : 

Albuminous  foods 100  grammes. 

Fats 90 

Starch  300        " 

Salts 30        " 

Water 2,800        " 

Foster  and  Voit's  table  is  : 

Albuminoids 118  grammes. 

Carbohydrates 392«3       " 

Fats 88.4 

In  these  foods  there  is  of  nitrogen  18.3  grammes  ;  car- 
bon, 328  grammes. 

De  Chaumont's  table  for  an  adult  of  150  Ibs.  weight  and 
doing  an  average  amount  of  work  is  : 

Albuminoids 4. 5    oz. 

Fats 3-75   " 

Carbohydrates 18.00  " 

Salts..  .   1. 12   " 


DIET.  167 

The  British  soldier's  ration  is  : 

Albuminoids 3.86  oz. 

Fats 1.30  " 

Carbohydrates 17-43   " 

Salts 81   " 

This  ration  is  deficient  in  fats,  and  the  high  mortality 
of  British  soldiers  in  garrison  may  be  attributed  in  part 
to  this  error.  A  considerable  part  of  this  excessive 
mortality  is  in  diseases  for  which  fats  are  generally 
prescribed. 

The  following  tables  are  taken  from  the  Best  Rations 
for  the  Soldier,  by  Col.  Jos.  R.  Smith,  M.D. 

By  general  experience  and  individual  experiment,  we 
have  discovered  a  certain  amount  of  food  which  will 
sustain  an  average  individual  in  good  health  ;  and,  also, 
that  much  less  than  this  will  not  suffice,  though  we  do 
not  know  that  a  little  less  would  not  suffice.  We  have 
discovered,  too,  that  certain  combinations  and  propor- 
tions of  different  foods  are  best  in  the  larger  number 
of  cases. 

As  large  numbers  of  men  are  involved  in  these  ex- 
periments, the  application  of  "  averages  "  comes  to  our 
aid,  viz.  :  That  property  of  the  "  average,"  in  virtue  of 
which,  from  a  large  number  of  specific  cases,  every  one 
inaccurate  in  different  directions,  an  idea  may  be 
deduced  which  is  very  near,  indeed,  to  accuracy. 

I  proceed  to  give  the  amounts  of  food  necessary  to 
sustain  in  health  and  strength  an  adult  male  for  twenty- 
four  hours,  as  determined  theoretically  and  (by  experi- 
ence) practically  by  different  parties. 


i68 


TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 


TABLE  I. 

Amount  of  Food  Required  per  Man,  per  Day,  as  Determined  in 
Acttial   Trial. 


AVERAGE. 

TOTAL 
SOLID 
FOOD. 

By  Prof 

Fresh  meat     16     ozs. 

For  a  "  man 
in  full  health, 

T 

T.  C. 

Bread  .  .        19       " 

and  taking 

Dalton. 

Butter  or  fat  3.5    " 

38.5 

free  exercise 

ozs. 

in  the  open 
air." 

Meat     ...                      .16  ozs 

Bread                 20    " 

Or  biscuit  16    " 

Vegetables  (fresh)                     8    '  ' 

Typical 

Or  vegetables  (preserved)  )          « 
or  rice  or  peas  C 

discretion  of 

Ration 

Sugar     2    " 

? 

of 

Tea  £    " 

man  ding     on 

English 

Coffee                                       |    '  ' 

Army. 

Salt                                .        •  i    " 

Pepper                               .  .  -<Ar  '  ' 

the  Medical 

(  when     fresh  ) 
Lime-juice  •<    vegetables     >    i    " 
(  are  not  issued  ) 

Max. 
46  ozs. 
to  min. 
36  ozs. 

Officer. 

In  Nos.  3  and 
4,  wine,  25 
centiliters  ; 

Meat   fresh                     5  291      " 

coffee,  15 

Italian 

Bacon     .                    .       .529      " 

grammes(over 

3- 

Army. 
Type  B. 

Pastry  (macaroni,  etc.)  7.054 
Vegetables  i.7°3 

£  oz.),  and 
sugar,  22 

Salt  and  pepper  7054    ' 

47-015 
ozs. 

grammes(over 
f  oz.),  should 
be  added, 
being  allowed 

DIET. 


169 


AVERAGE. 

TOTAL 
SOLID 
FOOD. 

4- 

5- 

6. 

Army. 
Type  E. 

Cor 
Me 
Bac 
Veg 
Che 
Sal 

n-meal  24  689  ozs 

34.318 
ozs. 

on                                    520    ' 

retables                         2  64*;    ' 

'                                          f      » 

and  pepper,           .   i  411    ' 

Ration 
of  the 
Army  of 
the 
United 
States  of 
North 
America 

Por 
Or 
Or 
Sof 
Or 
Or 
Bea 
Or 
Cof 
Or 

Org 

vng 

Sail 
PeF 

k  or  bacon     .....       12      ozs 

Max. 
48.6 
ozs.  to 
min. 
32  ozs. 

fresh  beef  or  mutton.  20        '  ' 
salt  beef  22        " 

t  bread  or  flour  18        " 

lard  bread                     16        " 

corn-meal  .  .             ...  20        " 

ns  or  peas   ...         ...   2.4     " 

rice  or  hominy  1.6     " 

ee    green                        I  6     " 

coffee,   roasted  and  ) 
round  \    *?** 

tea                                      32  '  ' 

ar                                      24.     " 

egar                                    32  gills 

64  ozs. 

Rations 
of  the 

Navy  of 

United 
States  of 
North 
America 

1 
N 

r  Salt  pork  18       ozs 

Beans  or  peas              7  5 

Biscuit  14 

Tea  | 

Sugar.  . 

Pickles                          i  14 

Molasses  .  .    ......   157 

Vinegar  -|  pint 

Salt  beef  16       ozs. 

Dried  fruit             .  .   2 

Biscuit,  tea,  sugar, 
pickles,  molasses, 
and  vinegar,   the 
same    as    in    Ra- 
tion i. 

TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 


AVERAGE. 

TOTAL 
SOLID 
FOOD 

Preserved  meat.  .  .  .12        ozs 

Rice  8 

Butter.    .                     2          " 

en 

0  " 
7 

Dessicated  mixed  \ 
vegetables  ....    \ 
Biscuit,   tea,  sugar, 
pickles,  molasses, 

Max. 

48  ozs. 
tomin. 
38  ozs. 

and    vinegar,    as 

in  Ration  i. 

Preserved  meat.  .  .  .12 

Butter  2          " 

^ 

Dessicated  tomatoes  6 

o  " 

Biscuit,   tea,  sugar. 

pickles,  molasses, 

and    vinegar,    as 

in  Ration  i. 

n  the  above  rations,  fresh  meat, 

20  ozs.,   or  preserved  meat,    12 

ozs.,  may  be  substituted  for  the 

ration  of  salt  pork  or  beef. 

Soft  bread  or  flour,   16  ozs.,  may 

be  substituted  for  biscuit. 

Coffee,    2   ozs.,  or  cocoa,   2  ozs., 

may  be  substituted  for  tea  ;  rice, 

or  beans,    8  ozs.,   may  be  sub- 

stituted for  each  other.      Vege- 

tables  of   equal    value  may    be 

substituted  for  beans  or  peas  in 

No.  i,  and  for  flour  and  dried 

fruits  in  No.  2. 

Canned  vegetables,  6  ozs.,  may  be 

substituted  for  dessicated  vege- 

tables in  No.  3. 

Danned  tomatoes,  6  ozs.,  may  be 

substituted     for     dessicated    in 

No.   4. 

The   foregoing  amounts  of    food    are   in  avoirdupois 
ounces,  and  have  undergone  the  test  of  experience. 


DIET.  i;i 

Concerning  the  first,  Dalton,  in  his  work  on  physiology 
says:  "  From  experiments  performed  while  living  on  an 
exclusive  diet  of  bread,  fresh  meat,  and  butter,  with  coffee 
and  water  for  drink,  we  have  found  that  the  entire  quantity 
of  food  required  during  twenty-four  hours,  by  a  man  in 
full  health  and  taking  free  exercise  in  open  air,  is  as 
follows:  Meat,  16  ozs.;  bread,  19  ozs. ;  butter  or  fat, 
3!  ozs.;  water,  52  fluid  ozs." 

The  second,  third,  and  fourth  rations  are  those  of  the 
British  and  Italian  armies.  I  have  given  these,  because 
my  knowledge  concerning  them  is  precise  and  definite. 
The  amounts  of  food  are  authoritative,  the  figures  having 
been  furnished  by  the  authorities  in  Rome  and  London 
to  the  United  States  ministers  resident  in  those  cities, 
and  by  them  transmitted  to  the  State  Department  in 
Washington. 

Accompanying  Number  2,  came  the  following:  "  On 
active  service  abroad,  in  the  field,  the  ration  is  fixed 
according  to  the  exigencies  in  each  case,  but  the  follow- 
ing scale  is  laid  down  as  a  guide." 

The  Italian  authorities  write,  concerning  3  and 4  :  "It 
is  established  that  for  the  maximum  nutrition  of  soldiers 
from  eighteen  to  twenty  grammes  of  nitrogen  (azote), 
and  from  three  hundred  and  ten  to  three  hundred  and 
fifty  of  carbon  are  necessary."  Six  types  of  rations 
used  were  also  sent,  of  which  I  have  presented  type  B 
as  of  the  greatest  weight,  and  type  E  of  the  least  weight. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  all  these  rations,  perhaps 
appropriate  for  the  climate  and  places  where  formulated, 


1/2  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

can  not  be  so  for  all  climates  and  places,  nor  for  all 
digestions.  The  fact  that  scurvy,  a  preventable  disease 
due  to  diet,  is  prevalent  in  nearly  all  armies  and 
navies,  even  in  peace,  shows  that  these  rations  are  far 
from  perfect,  or  else  that  the  soldiers  do  not  have  the 
ration  the  government  provides.  In  the  years  between 
1869  and  1873  it  has  figured  as  a  disease  to  the  extent  of 
from  6  to  12  f0  in  the  Austrian  army.  It  has  occurred  in 
our  own  army.  The  law  permits  in  this  country  the 
company  officers  to  sell  a  portion  of  the  soldier's  ration, 
and  to  buy  for  him  whatever  they  choose.  It  is  a  prac- 
tice to  thus  sell  a  certain  part  of  the  ration  and  to  apply 
the  money,  not  to  foods,  but  to  what  is  called  a  post 
fund.  This  fund  supports  bands,  libraries,  etc.  Such  a 
system  must  be  wrong  in  principle,  and  subject  to  great 
abuses.  In  some  places  the  money  obtained  from  the 
ration  is  applied  to  still  other  purposes,  but  not  for  food. 
At  one  place  this  curtailment  of  the  ration  resulted  in 
the  soldiers  receiving  18  ozs.  of  bread  instead  of  18  ozs. 
of  flour,  equalling  a  loss  of  N.  37  grs.,  and  C.  894  grs. 
Abuses  arising  from  this  practice  may  be  the  real  cause 
of  scurvy  in  the  armies  and  navies  of  different  coun- 
tries rather  than  a  really  defective  ration.  (Col.  J.  B. 
Smith,  M.  D.) 

Fifty-two  fluid  ounces  of  water  is  by  Dalton  deemed 
sufficient  for  an  adult  in  the  temperate  zone.  This 
quantity  can  not  be  constant,  for  the  amount  of  water 
necessary  or  best  for  man  must  vary  with  the  temperature 
and  occupation. 


DIET.  173 

In  the  above  tables  the  foods  spoken  of  are: 

Albuminoids;  these  are  the  components  of  meats, 
beans,  cheese,  etc. 

Fats;  these  are  fats,  butter,  oil,  etc. 

Hydro-carbons;  these  are  sugar  and  starch,  as  found 
in  grains,  potatoes,  etc. 

Salts;  these  are  minerals,  such  as  chloride  of  sodium, 
common  table  salt,  etc.  All  of  the  essentials  are 
found  in  milk. 

The  value  of  different  foods  in  diets  depends  very 
much  on  their  preparation.  Some  foods  are  most  easily 
assimilated  when  raw  or  uncooked,  as  lettuce,  butter, 
milk,  ripe  fruits,  etc.  But  the  great  majority  of  the 
articles  of  food  used  by  man  can  be  partially  prepared 
for  assimilation  by  cooking.  Such  germs  or  parasites  as 
they  may  contain  are  also  destroyed.  The  energies  of 
man  are  by  this  means  saved  to  a  considerable  extent 
from  the  time  and  work  of  digestion  necessary  in  other 
animals  without  this  aid,  and  the  body  from  some  of  the 
dangers  of  disease. 

Cooking,  however,  is  often  so  badly  done  that  the 
digestibility  of  the  food  treated  is  impaired,  and  not  im- 
proved. It  is  not  possible  to  enter  here  upon  a  treatise 
on  cooking,  but  we  may  properly  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  nerves  conveying  to  our  nerve  centres  the 
sensations  of  taste  are  governed  largely  by  the  hereditary 
results  of  experiment  as  to  the  good  or  bad  in  foods,  and 
only  secondarily  and  much  less  reliably  by  education. 
Foods,  correct  in  composition  but  without  the  flavors 


174  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

associated  with  good  foods  by  our  nerves  of  taste,  are 
not  only  disagreeable,  but  fail  to  secure  by  reflex  stimu- 
lation the  secretion  of  saliva,  gastric  juices,  etc.,  essential 
to  their  proper  digestion.  Consequently,  flavors  play  an 
important  part  in  artificially  prepared  foods.  Foods  in 
their  natural  condition  confess  correctly  their  appropri- 
ateness in  diet.  Stale  lettuce,  bad  butter,  diseased  or 
spoilt  milk,  decayed  meat,  and  unripe  fruit  all  tell  their 
tale  at  once.  Cooked  foods  that  taste  badly,  if  not  ac- 
tually inappropriate  for  the  body  in  quality,  composition, 
or  chemical  condition,  are  so  from  their  deception  of  the 
nerves  of  taste,  and  should  be  avoided.  We  may,  in- 
deed, educate  our  tastes,  but,  unfortunately,  their  educa- 
tion is  as  often  bad  as  it  is  good.  Frequently,  too, 
certain  condiments,  good  in  moderation  and  under 
certain  conditions,  as  pepper,  spices,  curries,  etc.,  are 
taken  to  excess  or  made  to  cover  defects  in  cooking  that 
would  otherwise  be  very  apparent.1 

The  chemical  changes  in  foods,  under  the  influence  of 
heat,  time,  etc.,  are  great,  and  should  be  studied  by 
every  family  founder.  Butter,  for  instance,  may  be 
cooked  so  that  it  makes  the  article  which  it  is  intended 

1  A  study  of  the  introduction  and  use  amongst  us  of  the  various 
condiments  is  both  interesting  and  instructive.  The  present  almost 
universal  use  of  these  agents  has  for  its  presumable  utility  the  stimu- 
lation and  hastening  of  digestion.  From  this  we  can  perceive  the 
advantage  to  man  of  any  saving  in  time  or  energy  in  digestion,  for  to 
the  extent  of  such  saving  the  energies  are  liberated  for  other  things. 
Abuse  in  the  use  of  condiments  is  easy  to  come  to  under  our  high 
pressure  of  life,  and  should  be  guarded  against. 


DIET.  175 

to  improve  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  of  digestion  ;  and 
so  of  a  number  of  articles  of  diet.  The  preparation  of 
food  for  the  sick  or  convalescent  demands  special  atten- 
tion. The  rule  in  this  matter  is  to  seek  natural  foods, 
such  as  milk,  and  to  study  simplicity  in  their  preparation. 

Water  is  an  article  which  in  some  form  is  an  absolute 
essential  to  man.  As  a  rule  the  purer  it  is  the  better  it 
is.  It  may  be  mixed  with  alcohol,  tea,  coffee,  fruit 
juices,  and  more  or  less  adulterated  in  many  ways. 
Water  may  ~be  charged  naturally  with  mineral  constitu- 
ents. When  the  amount  of  minerals  contained  is  large, 
especially  of  some  kinds,  water  becomes  unsuited  to 
man's  use  and  may  become  of  no  value  to  him  in  diet, 
as  is  the  case  with  sea  water. 

Men  have  fasted  for  considerable  periods.  Dr. 
Tanner  and  others  have  been  carefully  watched  in  ex- 
periments of  this  kind,  and  it  is  now  considered  estab- 
lished that  it  is  possible  for  a  human  being  to  go  for 
many  days  without  food  in  the  ordinary  acceptance  of 
the  term.  Forty-eight  days  is  probably  the  longest 
period  during  which  man  has  abstained  from  food  and 
lived,  although  considerably  longer  periods  have  been 
mentioned.  But  in  no  case  has  man  been  recorded  as 
going  for  a  lengthened  period  without  some  form  of 
water.  This  fluid  is,  therefore,  the  first  essential  of  man 
after  air.  Animals,  it  must  be  said,  however,  do  seem 
to  go  for  extraordinary  periods  without  water.  In  the 
deserts  of  California,  lizards,  rabbits,  and  other  small 
animals,  and  in  places  where  no  water  seems  accessible, 


i;6  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

ground  squirrels,  owls,  etc.,  live  five  or  six  months  and 
even  longer  with  no  apparent  supply  of  this  fluid. 
Whether  such  animals  have  some  means  of  obtaining 
water  unknown  to  us,  say  from  certain  plants,  or  whether 
they  actually  live  for  long  periods  without  any,  I  am  un- 
able to  say.  The  life  of  these  animals  is  interesting  as 
indicating  that  water  is  at  least  not  so  continuous  a  nec- 
essity to  animal  life  as  has  been  thought.1  Doubtless 
for  man  to  reach  such  a  stage  would  require  many  ages 
of  adaptation.  Men  vary  greatly  in  respect  to  their  use 
of  water.  I  recollect  the  Bedouin  Arabs  on  the  deserts 
of  Upper  Egypt  to  have  been  exceedingly  abstemious  in 
their  use  of  water  on  the  march.  Apart  from  the  Nile 
the  water  throughout  Egypt  and  the  adjacent  countries 
is  scant,  and  as  a  rule  bad  from  excess  of  mineral  con- 
stituents. The  Bedouins  are  doubtless  wise  in  using  this 
desert  water  as  little  as  possible. 

The  character  of  the  mineral  carried  in  water  has  a 
marked  influence  on  those  using  it.  Some  minerals 
induce  anaemia  with  its  surface-showing  of  pallor  in  the 
white  race,  others,  as  water  containing  lime,  seem  to 
produce  vigor,  large  frames,  and  a  rosy  complexion. 
Distilled  and  rain  water  are  free  from  any  appreciable 
mineral,  and  may  therefore  be  boiled  for  considerable 
periods  without  danger  of  increasing  the  proportion  of 
mineral  through  partial  evaporation  of  the  water.  Good 

1  The  sheep  in  California  are  not  taken  to  water  during  the  rainy 
season,  when  the  food  is  green.  They  obtain  all  the  moisture  they 
rieed  from  the  grass, 


DIET.  177 

spring,  or  hard  water,  is  often  rendered  unfit  for  use  in 
this  way.  While  an  excess  of  mineral  is  bad,  it  is  a 
matter  of  doubt  whether  a  reasonable  amount  of  mineral 
in  drinking  water  is  not  better  for  man  than  none  at  all. 
The  inhabitants  of  lime  stone  districts  would  indicate 
that  this  is  sometimes  the  case.  The  presumption  in 
general  should  be  in  favor  of  the  pure  water. 

Pure  rain  water,  it  should  be  remembered,  is  especially 
liable  to  take  up  certain  minerals,  such  as  lead.  Rain 
water  also  accumulates,  while  falling,  the  germs  of  certain 
innocent  animalculi,  and  may  accumulate  the  germs  of 
dangerous  ones.  The  innocent  ones  are  those  which 
have  been  studied.  These  multiply  with  extraordinary 
rapidity,  but  apparently  exhaust  the  food  in  the  water, 
and  in  about  three  weeks  die  off  and  nearly  disappear. 
Properly  protected  rain  water  will  then  contain  less  life 
than  spring  water.  In  some  places  where  rain  water  is 
much  used  for  drinking,  this  process  is  called  "  curing," 
and  rain  water  is  not  considered  fit  to  drink  until  it  is 
"  cured."  Owing  to  the  bacterial  life,  or  perhaps  bac- 
terial death,  rain  water  smells  unpleasantly  from  a  day 
or  two  after  its  fall,  until  this  curing  is  complete.  Boil- 
ing does  away  with  the  smell  and  the  life  or  death  that 
makes  it.  The  water  of  a  district  is  an  important  matter 
of  investigation  from  the  point  of  view  of  its  mineral 
contents.  It  is  still  more  so  in  regard  to  the  life  it  may 
contain.  Water  permits  the  life  of  a  large  number  of 
bacteria  inimical  to  man,  such  as  those  of  malaria, 
typhoid  fever,  etc.  Malarial  districts  invariably  have 


178  TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 

their  waters  charged  with  malarial  bacteria.  Boiling  the 
water  destroys  all  bacterial  life  although  not  always  the 
germs.  Freezing  does  not  produce  this  result,  for  a 
great  variety  of  living  bacteria  and  germs  have  been 
found  in  ice. 

The  temperature  at  which  water  is  used  is  an  element 
in  its  effects  upon  the  constitution.  Hot  water  in  the 
stomach  has  a  contracting  effect,  and  if  persisted  in 
probably  weakens  the  digestion.  It  is,  for  its  contract- 
ing effect,  good  in  catarrh  of  the  stomach,  and  in  some 
other  troubles.  Very  cold  water,  as  ice-water,  is  bad, 
for  energy  must  be  expended  to  overcome  its  tempera- 
ture before  any  digestion  can  go  on.  If  one  will  hold, 
for  five  minutes,  a  glass  of  ice-water  closely  in  the  hand, 
they  will  better  understand  what  the  energy  required  for 
this  is.  The  feeling  in  the  hand  will  be  disagreeable, 
indicating  a  protest  of  nature  against  the  cold.  The 
stomach  cannot  make  this  protest  with  any  approach  to 
the  force  of  the  hand,  because  it  lacks  the  nerves  of 
sensation  to  do  it  with.  Besides  this,  an  excessive 
amount  of  icy  cold  material  of  any  kind  introduced 
into  the  stomach  gives  a  shock,  proportioned  to  its 
quantity,  to  the  solar  plexus. 

This  is  a  nerve  centre  governing  the  work  of  the 
stomach.  Its  injury  cannot  but  be  felt  by  the  whole 
system. 

Well  water  is  always  liable  to  contamination  from 
cess-pools,  the  seepage  of  stable  yards,  or  from  surface 
drainage.  So  also  is  river  water,  the  water-shed  of 


DIET.  179 

which  contains  households  or  settlements.  Such  water 
should  be  boiled  before  use,  especially  where  typhoid 
fever,  .malarial  maladies,  or  other  diseases,  the  germs  of 
bacteria  of  which  may  be  carried  in  water,  are  prevalent. 

Air  is  a  constant  necessity  to  man.  A  few  cases  are 
on  record  of  persons  surviving  after  being  deprived  of 
air  for  more  than  five  minutes.  The  testimony  is,  how- 
ever, open  to  question.  Five  minutes  is  a  pretty  certain 
limit  for  the  maintenance  of  human  life  without  air.  To 
the  extent  that  air  is  changed  from  its  normal  composi- 
tion by  germs,  dust,  or  gases  it  becomes  less  serviceable 
to  man.  The  importance  of  pure  air  is  too  apparent  to 
need  demonstration. 

Air  is  a  fluid  composed  of  20.81  parts  of  oxygen  to 
79.19  of  nitrogen.  The  oxygen,  as  far  as  we  know,  is 
the  only  part  used  by  man. 

It  envelopes  the  earth  to  the  height  of  about  six  miles 
from  the  sea  level.  The  oxygen  diminishes  in  each 
cubic  foot  of  air  as  we  ascend  above  the  sea,  till  at  last 
there  is  insufficient  to  sustain  life.  In  places  below  the 
sea,  such  as  some  mines,  the  foundation  excavations  of 
the  Brooklyn  Bridge,  etc.,  the  increased  concentration 
of  the  air  and  its  pressure  causes  many  inconveniences, 
and  sometimes  disease. 

As  human  beings  are  now  constituted,  there  must  be 
some  standard  as  to  the  amount  of  oxygen  contained  in 
a  cubic  foot  of  air  which  is  best  for  the  life  interests  of 
man.  It  is  certain  that  man  can  live  and  prosper  at  the 
sea  level,  and  to  a  considerable  height  above  it,  There 


180  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

is  not  only  a  limit  to  life,  however,  owing  to  the  paucity 
of  oxygen  due  to  great  elevations,  but  also  a  limit  at  a 
much  less  elevation  to  the  possibility  of  the  greatest 
human  development  in  any  line. 

As  the  oxygen  to  the  cubic  foot  is  diminished,  the 
heart  and  lungs  are  obliged  to  increase  their  work  to 
properly  relieve  and  revivify  the  blood  with  the  oxygen 
of  the  air. 

So,  we  find,  the  number  of  respirations  and  heart  beats 
in  animals  increase  with  the  elevation  at  which  they  are 
above  the  sea. 

At  high  elevations  a  great  deal  of  energy  must  be 
diverted  from  other  things  to  the  heart  and  lungs  to 
produce  a  proper  diet  of  air. 

This  cannot  be  permanently  advantageous  to  man. 
It  may  very  well  be  that  a  man  descended  from  active 
ancestors,  but  himself  leading  a  sedentary  life,  would 
be  better  several  thousand  feet  above  the  sea  than  at  its 
level.  Because  at  the  sea  level  his  lungs,  accustomed  to 
activity  in  his  ancestors,  would  receive  too  little  exercise 
to  maintain  their  health  in  his  own  sedentary  body, 
whereas  at  the  high  elevation  they  might  exercise 
as  much  as  those  of  an  athlete  at  a  lower  level.  The 
preference  that  disease  has  for  unused  as  for  overused 
organs  makes  it  seem  probable,  that  the  rapid  propor- 
tionate increase  in  civilization  of  those  leading  seden- 
tary lives,  but  descended  from  more  active  ancestors,  is 
an  element  in  the  increase  of  lung  troubles.  If  this  be 
true  we  can  understand  why  high  elevations  may  be 


DIET.  l8l 

beneficial  for  such  subjects.  Though  the  rule  be  to 
let  a  diseased  member  or  organ  rest,  it  would  in  such 
case  be  the  rest  or  lack  of  exercise  that  caused  the  dis- 
ease and  the  cause  must  be  removed  before  the  disease 
can  be  cured. 

Air  over  the  ocean,  a  few  miles  from  the  land,  and  also 
at  high  altitudes,  is  comparatively  free  from  germs  and 
dust.  Air  thus  pure  is  better  than  when  impure,  espe- 
cially for  diseased  lungs.  This  quality  may  overcome  to 
a  certain  extent  the  drawbacks  of  lack  of  oxygen  at 
high  altitudes.  The  exemptions  in  the  French  conscrip- 
tion due  to  deficiencies  of  body  or  mind,  are  found  to 
increase  in  a  rising  ratio  with  each  thousand  feet  of  ele- 
vation after  two  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  This  is  a 
clear  indication  that  high  elevations  are  not  aids  to  the 
highest  development  of  man. 

A  number  of  examinations  of  mountain  populations, 
and  of  those  upon  elevated  plateaus,  leads  me  to  advise 
strongly  against  any  permanent  residence  over  two 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea. 

Air  is  much  vitiated  by  swamps.  These  should  not  be 
selected  as  residences,  nor  should  places  near  them. 
The  efficiency  and  force  of  the  individual  is  lowered  by 
such  air,  and  the  rearing  of  a  family  becomes  doubtful. 
The  vitality  of  air  is  diminished  by  human  use.  Conse- 
quently the  air,  in  cities  where  large  numbers  of  human 
beings  are  congregated  together,  is  less  good  than  that  of 
the  country. 

While  a  young  man  in  business  in  Baltimore  I  was  in 


1 82  TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 

the  habit  of  spending  my  Sunday  afternoons  in  the 
country.  I  can  recollect  very  well  the  dull,  heavy 
feeling  of  the  air  of  the  city  when  returning  in  the 
evening.  The  fresh  and  strong  feeling  of  the  country 
air,  when  going  out  of  the  city  into  it,  is  also  a  vivid 
recollection  in  my  mind.  Closed  rooms,  ill-ventilated 
buildings,  or  places  where  many  people  congregate  in  one 
room  as  in  tenement  houses,  theatres,  etc.,  are  all  disad- 
vantageous to  the  highest  evolution  of  human  energy. 
Frequent  or  long  exposures  to  such  conditions  should  be 
avoided.  In  certain  trades  and  occupations  a  great  deal 
of  dust  gets  into  the  air  breathed  by  the  operatives. 
Such  trades  or  occupations  are  all  unhealthy,  especially 
tending  to  consumption.  The  prudent  will  not  engage 
in  such  occupations. 

An  extended  series  of  observations  by  Dr.  W.  B.  Wood 
has  warranted  him  in  estimating  that  four  sevenths  of  the 
entire  population  are  affected  by  lung  complaints.  The 
dissections  at  the  Salpetriere,  the  great  French  hospital 
for  the  insane,  show  a  still  larger  proportion  to  be  or  to 
have  been  affected  by  tubercular  lesions  in  the  lungs. 
Consumption  is  a  disease  of  civilization.  The  disease, 
as  far  as  I  know,  was  never  observed  in  any  savage  peo- 
ple when  first  visited  by  Europeans.  It  is  still  very  little 
known  amongst  such  peoples.  Our  pioneer  life  has  had 
a  curative  effect  upon  consumption.  Thus  we  see  the 
consumptive  early  settlers  in  our  Western  States  benefited 
or  cured  of  the  malady,  whereas  to-day  in  the  high  civil- 
ization that  has  followed  the  old  primitive  life  we  find  the 


DIET.  183 

population  of  the  same  districts  where  cures  were  formerly 
the  rule  now  rank  producers  of  consumption.  A  larger 
proportion  of  the  population  is  consumptive  in  New 
England  and  the  coast  provinces  of  Canada  than  any- 
where else  in  the  world.  The  standard  of  life  in  these 
places  is  high,  the  time  and  energy  demanded  for  educa- 
tion great,  and  the  strain  upon  the  nervous  system  heavy. 
Consumption  in  its  prevalence  generally  corresponds 
with  nervous  strain.  A  recently  published  sanitary 
atlas  will  show  this  relation.  The  exceptions  occur 
where  the  lungs  are  much  irritated  by  dust,  foul  air, 
etc.  These  things  indicate  that  the  opinion  that  phthisis 
is  a  disease  due  to  nervous  debility  or  nervous  overstrain 
has  some  reason  in  it.  At  the  same  time  we  must  admit 
that  this  disease  has  other  causes.  The  bacillus  tuber- 
culosis is  found  in  those  diseased  with  it,  and  the  disease 
may  be  created,  in  animals  at  least,  by  inoculations  of 
this  bacillus.  It  is  also  a  generally  received  opinion  that 
those  with  consumption  may  infect  persons  living  with 
them.  The  disinfecting  methods  for  the  sputa,  etc., 
lately  adopted  in  hospitals  for  consumptives,  as  at 
Brompton,  show  a  great  benefit  in  reduced  intensity 
of  the  disease,  prolonged  average  of  life,  and  increased 
proportions  of  cures.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  bacil- 
lus plays  an  important  part  in  the  causation,  intensity, 
or  continuance  of  consumption.  At  the  same  time  we 
must  remember  that  the  injection  into  the  blood  of  cer- 
tain ptomaines  found  in  dead  bodies  will  cause  death, 
so  also  will  the  various  bacteria  that  produce  them.  We 


184  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

cannot  on  this   account  attribute  death   in  general   to 
these  bacteria. 

But  we  say  that  death  is  due  to  a  lack  of  force  suffi- 
cient to  maintain  the  necessary  functions  of  one  or  more 
of  the  vital  organs.  After  death  we  admit  that  certain 
bacteria  are  found  normally  in  the  cadaver,  but  we  do 
not  admit  that  these  were  the  cause  of  death,  although 
they  may  be  made  to  again  produce  it.  A  paper  was 
recently  communicated  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at 
Paris,  by  Dr.  Curmont,  Preparator  of  the  School  of  Medi- 
cine at  Lyons,  on  a  new  bacillary  tuberculosis  of  bovine 
origin.  He  claims  that  he  has  found  a  new  bacillus 
capable  of  producing  tuberculosis.  His  proof  lies  in  the 
fact  that  he  has  caused  tuberculosis  in  rabbits  by  inocu- 
lation of  the  new  bacillus.  In  Guinea  pigs  it  does  not 
produce  tuberculosis,  but  it  causes  a  general  infection 
which  is  fatal.  May  it  not  be  the  consumption,  the  dis- 
eased state,  which  makes  the  condition  favorable  to  the 
life  and  multiplication  of  the  bacillus  tuberculosis, 
whether  of  the  old  kind  or  of  the  claimed  new  sort  ? 
Consumption  is  certainly  not  a  climatic  disease,  for  it 
is  found  present  or  absent  in  all  sorts  of  climates.  It  is 
common  in  the  south  of  Scotland  and  almost  unknown 
in  the  north  of  Scotland.  It  is  common  throughout  Eng- 
land although  very  rare  in  the  southwest.  Common  in 
Denmark,  it  is  practically  absent  in  the  phenomenally 
bad  climate  of  Iceland.  A  scourge  in  New  England  and 
Nova  Scotia,  it  is  a  curiosity  in  the  old  Hudson  Bay 
country.  Common  in  Central  Europe  it  is  confined  to 


DIET.  185 

the  political  prisoners  in  Eastern  Siberia.  Whatever  may 
be  its  cause  it  is  never  general  except  when  the  nervous 
system  is  under  a  heavy  strain.  Under  these  conditions 
it  is  always  prevalent.  As  our  progress  is  upon  nervous 
lines,  it  is  apparent  that  consumption  is  a  disease  especi- 
ally to  be  guarded  against. 

Those  occupations  or  situations  where  it  is  to  be  most 
expected  from  irritation  to  the  lungs,  confinement,  etc., 
and  in  which  no  nervous  progress  or  development  is 
especially  at  stake,  should  be  religiously  relegated  to 
those  without  an  expectation  of  immortality  in  the  child. 

The  temperature  of  the  air  is  an  influential  factor  in 
the  human  activity.  In  the  far  north  a  great  amount  of 
energy  is  required  to  assimilate  the  fats  necessary  to 
maintain  the  heat  of  the  body  and  generally  to  resist  the 
extreme  cold.  Very  cold  climates  do  not  permit  intel- 
lectual activity,  on  account  of  their  absorption  of  energy 
to  resist  their  low  temperatures.  The  extensions  toward 
the  north  of  the  line  of  the  highest  civilization,  it  is  to 
be  presumed,  is  due  to  the  devices  of  man  in  counteract- 
ing the  cold.  The  most  prominent  of  these  is  in  the 
application  of  artificial  heat  and  in  the  housing  of  the 
people,  by  both  of  which  the  energies  are  saved. 

In  the  tropics  the  paucity  of  intellectual  activity  is  still 
more  noticeable.  For  the  population  in  the  tropics  is 
much  greater  from  which  such  manifestations  could  come 
and  of  greatly  longer  residence.  Manifestly  the  arctic 
regions  have  only  been  inhabited  by  reason  of  popula- 
tion pressure  from  more  fortunate  regions.  Consequently 


1 86  TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 

they  must  have  been  settled  last  of  all  the  corners  of 
the  earth. 

Any  activity  of  the  body  or  brain  is  accompanied  by 
heat  which  must  be  gotten  rid  of  when  it  is  in  excess 
of  the  bodily  needs.  No  considerable  exertion  can  be 
undertaken  in  a  hot  climate  without  such  excess  of  heat- 
production.  The  energies  required  for  such  heat  elimi- 
nation in  an  active  person  so  situated  are  very  great. 
Where  warm  climates  are  also  humid,  the  difficulty  of 
getting  rid  of  surplus  body  heat  is  increased.  Such 
elimination  of  heat  in  man  is  produced  by  perspiration 
and  evaporation.  The  greater  the  humidity  of  the  air, 
the  temperature  being  equal,  the  slower  must  be  the 
evaporation  and  consequent  cooling  of  the  body.  From 
these  matters  we  may  perceive  a  reasonable  explanation 
of  the  body  and  mind  indolence  of  the  world's  tropical 
population. 

Every  activity  under  the  equator  requires  much  energy 
to  get  rid  of  the  heat  it  produces,  while  in  the  cooler 
zones  activity  for  the  production  of  heat  is  more  and 
more  a  necessity  to  preserve  life.  Cold,  therefore,  must 
be  beneficial  to  progress,  until  it  reaches  a  point  where 
the  energies  are  all  or  nearly  all  absorbed  to  counteract 
it.  From  these  considerations  it  will  be  plain  that  every 
one,  desiring  for  himself  and  his  descendants  the  highest 
estate  of  man,  will  select  the  temperate  or  cool  zone  for 
his  residence.  Dry  heat,  being  more  favorable  to  evapo- 
ration and  cooling,  is  less  obnoxious  to  the  evolution  of 
human  energy.  We  have  no  historical  record  of  a  high 


DIET.  IS/ 

civilization  in  a  moist,  hot  climate,  nor  does  such  a  civ- 
ilization exist,  neither  is  it  to  be  expected.  The  Mexi- 
can and  Peruvian  civilizations  were  of  an  inferior  charac- 
ter, and  also  in  high,  comparatively  cool  altitudes,  and  dry 
districts  where  tropical  conditions  were  much  modified. 
A  few  ruins  here  and  there  in  the  tropics  are  found,  as  in 
Central  America,  Ceylon,  Siam,  etc.  They  are  all  of  a 
primitive  type,  and  as  the  record  is  a  blank  regarding  their 
history,  we  may  presume  that  even  these  are  due  to  some 
emigrants  not  long  maintaining  their  imported  energy. 

Alexander  Hamilton,  like  a  few  other  distinguished 
persons,  was  born  in  the  tropics,  but  of  parents  from 
more  favorable  climes,  and  his  activities  were  in  the 
temperate  zone. 

Hamilton  was  born  in  the  West  Indies  ;  D'Espremenil 
in  Madras,  and  Fournier  in  Martinique.  The  Vasa 
family  is  about  the  only  distinguished  one  from  the  far 
north.  No  distinguished  person  in  the  world's  history 
comes  from  within  the  arctic  circle,  nor  four  degrees 
from  the  equator.  This  rather  smooth  theory  has  one 
bad  stumbling-block  to  contend  on  the  heat  side.  It  is 
that  the  greatest  athletic  performances  of  men  or  ani- 
mals have  been  on  warm  or  hot  days,  and  not  on  cold 
ones.  My  own  experience  in  athletic  games  is  that  I 
work  better  on  a  warm  or  hot  day,  and  feel  my  skill 
markedly  diminished  on  a  cold  or  even  chilly  one.  Con- 
sequently, the  efforts  of  nature  to  overcome  the  heat 
produced  by  bodily  action  must  not  be  overesti- 
mated, and  may  not  be  the  source  of  human  in- 


1 88  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

dolence  in  the  tropics.  The  worthlessness  of  tropical 
population,  no  matter  from  where  recruited,  makes  the 
tropics  forbidden  ground  for  the  family  founder. 

A  universal  accompaniment  of  the  advance  of  man 
has  been  the  discovery  and  use  of  some  form  of  stimu- 
lant or  narcotic.  All  of  them,  if  we  except  the  mild 
cocoa,  have  a  disagreeable  first  taste  that  must  be  over- 
come by  habit  or  disguised  by  flavoring. 

Children  do  not  like  the  natural  taste  of  any  of  these 
agents.  The  effect  of  the  first  use  of  some  of  them,  as 
tobacco,  are  unpleasant.  We  class  them  as  stimulants  or 
narcotics.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  they  are  all 
narcotic  when  taken  in  sufficient  quantity.  On  the 
other  hand,  pronounced  narcotics,  even  such  as  ether, 
have  a  preliminary  stimulating  or  exciting  effect. 

It  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  work  to  treat  exhaus- 
tively of  all  agents  of  this  kind,  therefore,  a  sketch  will 
be  given  only  of  those  in  most  common  use. 

These  are  of  so-called  stimulants,  tea,  coffee,  and  al- 
cohol, and  of  narcotics,  tobacco  and  opium.  In  South 
America  mate,  whose  active  principle  is  thein,  and 
coca  are  largely  used,  while  in  Africa  it  is  the  kola  nut, 
with  thein  or  coffeine  as  its  principle  ;  in  India  Indian 
hemp,  etc.,  but  as  these  drugs  are  not  much  tised 
amongst  us,  we  need  not  discuss  them  except  to  say  that 
the  habitual  use  of  coca  has  great  dangers,  and  Indian 
hemp  still  greater.  The  latter  should  never  be  used,  for 
the  same  reasons  that  will  subsequently  be  given  for  the 
total  abstinence  from  opium. 


DIET.  189 

TEA. — Tea  is  produced  from  the  leaves  of  a  plant 
grown  principally  in  China  and  India.  It  owes  its 
stimulating  properties  to  an  alkaloid  known  as  thein,  dis- 
covered by  Oudry  in  1827.  It  is  properly  prepared  by 
pouring  boiling-hot  water  on  the  leaves.  In  proportion 
to  the  time  that  this  water  is  poured  from  the  leaves  the 
character  of  the  beverage  is  influenced.  The  quicker  it 
is  done  the  more  of  the  delicate  aroma  of  the  leaves  will 
be  had,  and  the  less  of  the  thein  and  astringent  proper- 
ties of  the  leaves.  Perfect  tea  cannot  be  allowed  to 
stand  long  on  the  leaves,  and  should  be  drunk  immedi- 
ately after  preparation.  As  thus  used  it  is  a  delightful 
drink  with  no  known  deleterious  effects.  This  sort  of 
tea  is  not  often  made  outside  of  China.  As  usually  pre- 
pared it  is  stronger,  slightly  stimulating,  and  little  sub- 
ject to  abuse.  When  used  in  large  quantities,  however, 
it  is  apt  to  have  an  unfavorable  effect  upon  the  diges- 
tion, perhaps  as  much  through  the  excess  of  tannin  from 
the  usually  stewed  leaves  as  from  the  excess  of  thein. 
Excess  in  the  use  of  tea  also  produces  a  condition  called 
nervousness,  characterized  by  tremor  in  the  muscles, 
sleeplessness,  and  incapacity  for  full  body  or  mind 
.work. 

In  the  Wigan  district  in  England  the  female  opera- 
tives used  a  considerable  amount  of  very  strong  tea.  To 
such  an  extent  was  this  practice  carried  that  the  health 
of  these  operatives  was  often  ruined,  and  they  were 
found  to  be  tea  drunkards.  A  medical  inquiry  into  the 
condition  of  the  Wigan  operatives,  attributed  to  the  tea 


1 90  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

habit  the  nervous  break-down  of  the  women,  their  hys- 
teria, and  the  general  ruin  of  their  health.  It  is  only  in 
large  doses  that  such  results  are  produced,  but  like  all 
the  stimulants  or  narcotics  it  is  subject  to  obtain  an  em- 
pire over  its  users,  to  their  injury  or  ruin.  Like  all  the 
agents  containing  thein,  the  known  effects  of  tea  are 
upon  the  spinal  cord  and  upon  the  cerebrum,  and  doubt- 
less, secondarily,  more  or  less  upon  all  the  nervous 
centres. 

In  moderation  it  probably  aids  mental  work.  At  least 
this  is  the  seeming  effect. 

COFFEE. — Coffee  is  made  from  the  berry  of  a  bush 
growing  in  Arabia,  Ceylon,  Java,  Brazil,  Mexico,  Cen- 
tral America,  and  a  few  other  places. 

It  is  prepared  by  roasting  the  berry,  grinding  it,  and 
pouring  boiling  water  upon  it.  Coffee  is  like  tea,  in  con- 
taining thein  or  caffeine  which  was  discovered  in  it  by 
Runge  in  1820,  and  identified  with  thein  by  Mulder  and 
Jobst  in  1838.  It  differs  from  tea  in  containing  less 
astringent  and  in  having  an  empyreumatic  oil  which 
alone  has  marked  stimulating  properties.  Coffee,  to  be 
at  its  best,  should  be  made  strong.  It  may  then  be  adul- 
terated with  hot  milk  and  cream  without  loss  of  flavor. 
Weak  tea  may  be  excellent,  but  weak  coffee  is  an  abom- 
ination. Coffee,  perhaps  for  this  reason,  is  drunk 
stronger  than  tea,  and  has  a  marked  stimulating  effect 
upon  the  nervous  system.  Used  to  excess  it  will  produce 
the  same  results  as  tea,  and  also  others,  such  as  neu- 
ralgia and  headache.  It  is  said  to  be  an  aphrodesiac. 


DIET.  19! 

Coffee  also  affects  the  kidneys  and  bladder,  causing  a 
free  secretion  of  urine  and  frequent  micturition,  but  a 
diminished  amount  of  urea.  In  fact  this  latter  result  is 
common  to  all  these  agents.  With  some  persons  who 
take  tea  without  difficulty,  coffee  produces  digestive 
trouble,  apparently  due  to  derangement  of  the  functions 
of  the  liver.  With  the  great  majority  of  persons,  coffee 
is  more  a  help  than  a  hindrance  to  assimilation.  It 
probably  causes  much  less  indigestion  than  tea.  A  per- 
fect cup  of  coffee  is  the  most  delicious  beverage  in  the 
world.  I  cannot  refrain  from  saying  something  that 
may  make  trouble  in  the  kitchen.  It  is  that  a  perfect 
cup  of  coffee  requires  that  the  berry  should  have  been 
roasted  and  ground  immediately  before  it  was  made. 
The  medical  officers  of  the  French  army  use  it  as  a  pre- 
ventative  of  malaria  instead  of  quinine,  and  claim  good 
results  from  it.  Coffee  reduces  the  heart  beats  while 
increasing  the  heart  force.  On  this  account  it  has  been 
found  useful  in  weak  heart,  and  in  dropsy  due  to  heart 
disease.  Coffee  has  less  cumulative  action  than  digitalis, 
a  drug  used  for  the  same  diseases,  and  is  on  this  account 
better. 

ALCOHOL. — Alcohol  is  a  colorless  volatile  fluid  formed 
out  of  sugar  by  fermentation.  It  is  always  taken  diluted 
very  much  with  water,  and  the  more  the  better.  Whiskey 
and  brandy,  amongst  the  strongest  forms  in  which  it  is 
used,  are  generally  expected  to  contain  from  48  to  56 
per  cent,  of  alcohol.  Beer  and  wine  are  the  other 
common  forms  of  alcohol  in  use  in  this  country,,  both  of 


TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

which  vary  in  strength,  but  are  very  much  weaker  than 
those  first  named.  While  its  vehicle  has  some  influence 
on  its  results,  the  general  effect  of  alcohol  is  always  the 
same.  The  researches  of  Dujardin-Beaumetz  show  that 
some  kinds  of  alcohol  are  more  poisonous  than  others. 
His  table  of  the  poisonous  dose  per  kilo  (2  Ibs.)  of  body 
weight  sufficient  to  kill  in  24  to  36  hours  of  the  different 
alcohols  is  as  follows  : 

Ethyl  alcohol 89  grammes concentrated. 

Propylic  alcohol 2.90  "  " 

3-75  "  dilute. 

Butylic        "       2.00      "  concentrated. 

1.85  "  dilute. 

Amylic        "      1.70  "  concentrated. 

"      1.50  "  dilute. 

The  alcohol  in  general  use  is  more  poisonous  the  more 
concentrated  it  is.  The  reason  that  the  two  last  are 
more  poisonous  when  dilute  is  because  they  are  more 
soluble  when  dilute,  and,  therefore,  more  subject  to 
assimilation. 

It  has  been  said  that  alcohol  is  not  a  food,  because  it 
is  recognized  unchanged  in  the  breath,  perspiration, 
urine,  etc.  But  this  does  not  seem  established,  because 
no  experimenter  as  yet  has  been  able  to  find  more  than 
16  per  cent,  of  the  alcohol  administered  in  the  excreta, 
and  it  is  therefore  surmised  that  the  balance  must  be 
lost  or  used  in  the  system.  Alcohol  diminishes  cell 
activity,  upon  which  bodily  heat  depends,  and  therefore 
lowers  the  temperature.  It  does  this  in  another  way,  also, 
by  dilation  of  the  capillaries  and  determination  of  blood 


DIET.  193 

to  the  surface.  This  increases  the  action  of  the  sweat 
glands  and  evaporation.  The  blood  near  the  air  and 
evaporation  are  both  cooling.  It  is  not  surprising,  there- 
fore, to  know  that  in  large  amounts,  alcohol  sometimes 
reduces  the  body  temperature  below  normal  from  two  to 
four  degrees  F. 

In  its  more  concentrated  forms  in  general  use,  as 
brandy,  whiskey,  gin,  and  rum,  alcohol  when  taken 
habitually  injures  the  liver,  causing  cirrhosis.  It  also 
injures  the  heart  and  kidneys.  In  countries  where  wine 
and  beer  are  the  forms  of  alcohol  mostly  used  liver 
lesions  due  to  alcohol  are  not  common.  Its  excessive 
use  predisposes  to  all  lung  diseases.  The  unfavorable 
results  of  excesses  in  liquor  are  particularly  pronounced 
in  pneumonia.  In  this  disease  the  alcohol  habit  pro- 
duces more  directly  recognized  fatal  results  than  in  any 
other.  All  muscular  power  is  reduced  by  alcohol  in  its 
direct  effects,  consequently  athletes  avoid  it  when  pre- 
paring for  any  feat  or  contest.  I  have  observed  that 
even  a  pint  of  claret,  taken  at  dinner,  diminished  my 
power  while  in  training  to  walk  a  measured  three  miles 
by  several  seconds.  We  have  no  means  of  ascertaining 
what  its  effects  are  on  mental  effort,  but  it  is  to  be  pre- 
sumed that  they  are  similar  and  disadvantageous.  On 
the  other  hand,  we  have  the  opinion  of  many  physicians 
that  alcohol  will  increase  the  vital  forces,  and  enable  the 
individual  to  bridge  over  some  disaster  to  the  body 
which  without  it  would  cause  death.  Dr.  W.  P.  Lom- 
bard has  recently  conducted  some  experiments  which 
13 


194  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

seem  to  have  been  carefully  checked.  By  careful  meas- 
urement he  claims  that  at  least  temporarily  muscular 
power  increases  under  alcohol  and  diminishes  under 
tobacco.  His  theory  is  that  muscular  fatigue  is  not  so 
much  due  to  muscular  as  to  nerve  exhaustion  of  the 
centres,  the  immediate  source  of  the  muscular  stimulus. 
He  derived  this  idea  from  the  fact  that  the  application 
of  electricity  to  an  apparently  exhausted  muscle  imme- 
diately causes  the  contraction  to  appear  in  full  force. 
Alcohol  certainly  has  a  preliminary  effect  on  the  terminal 
nerves,  and  the  first  physical  record  of  its  abuse  is  rec- 
ognizable in  these.  It  is  exceedingly  subject  to  abuse. 
The  intoxication  produced  by  alcohol  relieves  man  tem- 
porarily from  the  strain,  competition,  and  responsibilities 
of  life.  He  escapes  from  society  at  least  temporarily,  or 
he  escapes  from  himself.  The  weaker  he  is  the  more  he 
is  fascinated  and  lured  on.  A  certain  amount  of  indul- 
gence still  further  weakens  him  ;  his  will  power  is  lost, 
his  body  is  injured,  his  spirit  is  enslaved,  and  he  is  in 
the  hands  of  a  demon  from  whom  few  escape.  A  man 
under  its  influence  is  capable  of  ruining  himself,  his 
friends,  his  wife,  his  children.  Alcohol  is  the  original 
Arab  name  of  this  spirit.  It  means  the  demon.  In  its 
abuse  no  name  could  be  more  appropriate.  The  effect 
of  alcohol  on  the  nervous  system  in  toxic  doses  is  a  pro- 
gressive paralysis,  commencing  with  the  highest,  or  rea- 
soning powers,  and  involving  one  centre  after  another, 
each  one  lower  till  at  last  death  occurs  by  paralysis  of 
the  nerves  producing  respiration.  So  the  first  evidence 


DIET.  195 

of  drunkenness  is  the  loss  of  reason  and  self  control. 
Continual  degradation  in  drunkenness  tends  more  and 
more  to  make  this  first  paralysis  permanent. 

The  amount  of  crime  and  misery  due  to  drunkenness 
is  very  great.  No  one  denies  it.  Some  individuals  of 
bright  careers  have  gone  to  the  dogs  through  alcohol, 
but  have  recovered  themselves  and  subsequently  lived 
useful  and  respectable  lives.  We  may  say  from  these  in- 
stances that  alcohol  alone  is  the  ruin  of  many,  as  it  was 
temporarily  the  ruin  of  those  who  have  reformed. 

The  effects  of  alcohol  in  moderation  upon  the  resist- 
ant powers  of  the  body  to  cold,  heat,  and  disease  are 
still  unsettled.  In  excess  it  is  always  injurious.  As  to 
heat,  as  in  tropical  climates,  the  weight  of  testimony 
seems  against  it,  which  is  strange  when  we  consider  that 
it  lowers  the  bodily  temperature.  The  extra  work 
thrown  on  the  liver  in  such  climates,  and  the  tendency  of 
alcohol  to  diminish  the  efficiency  of  this  organ,  may  be 
the  cause  of  its  bad  effects. 

In  the  Ashantee  war  the  English  officers  report  that 
the  use  of  liquor  was  injurious,  and  they,  therefore, 
abolished  the  ration  of  alcohol.  As  to  disease,  its  mod- 
erate use  may  be  slightly  unfavorable.  In  reports  on 
yellow  fever,  especially  in  one  on  the  epidemic  at  Pan- 
ama during  the  building  of  the  French  fiasco,  strong 
ground  is  taken  against  it,  but  upon  what  appears  to  be 
partial  and  insufficient  evidence. 

A  number  of  hospital  reports  show  that  drinkers  have 
less  prospects  of  recovery  than  the  temperate.  In 


196  TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 

excess  we  have  already  seen  how  bad  the  effects  of  alco- 
hol are.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Collective  Investiga- 
tion Committee  of  the  British  Medical  Association, 
made  of  total  abstainers  and  temperate  drinkers  has 
published  a  report  which  shows  the  average  length  of 
life  in  the  same  class  to  be  for  the 

Temperate       ......        62  years. 

Total  abstainer         .         .         .         .         .         51  years. 

Inebriates         .         .         .         .         .         .         52  years. 

This  extraordinary  and  almost  incredible  report  may  be 
explained  upon  the  ground  that  a  majority  of  the  total 
abstainers  are  such  from  the  necessity  of  a  physical 
weakness  that  has  never  permitted  them  to  contract  the 
drinking  habit. 

There  are  people  who  are  so  disastrously  affected  by 
any  quantity  of  alcohol  that  it  may  be  presumed  to  be 
impossible  for  them  to  continue  to  take  alcohol  in  excess. 
Others  of  the  total  abstainers  have  been  hard  drinkers, 
and  may  be  presumed  to  have  undermined  their  consti- 
tutions before  their  reform.  A  convocation  of  total 
abstainers  is  generally,  to  a  large  extent,  made  up  of  lank 
and  sickly  looking  persons.  A  view  only  of  a  total 
abstinence  meeting  without  one's  ears  would  certainly 
discourage  conversions.  As  to  cold  we  have  on  the  one 
hand  the  instance  of  the  loggers  of  a  Canadian  camp 
imprisoned  by  snow  and  subjected  to  great  privations 
and  cold  amongst  whom  were  hard  drinkers,  moderate 
drinkers,  and  total  abstainers.  The  total  abstainers 
alone  escaped.  The  facts  of  this  case,  however,  were 


DIET.  197 

not  in  my  opinion  sufficiently  well  checked  to  be  conclu- 
sive. On  the  other  hand,  we  have  the  testimony  of 
Nares,  Markham,  Sir  L.  McClintock,  Alex.  Gray,  Dr. 
Envall,  Nordenskiold,  and  others,  that  in  the  arctic  circle 
total  abstainers  have  no  advantage  over  moderate  drink- 
ers, but  rather  the  reverse.  The  result,  however,  may  be 
due  to  the  anti-scorbutic  influence  of  alcohol.  We  may 
recognize  this  effect  most  clearly  in  the  Nares  expedi- 
tion. On  the  Alert  they  had  scurvy  although  giving  out 
a  regular  ration  of  lime-juice,  while  on  the  Alliance  they 
had  no  scurvy.  In  the  first  ship  they  did  not  serve  a 
regular  ration  of  alcohol,  while  on  the  latter  they  brewed 
their  own  beer  and  drank  it.  So  also  in  the  sixty-six 
days'  sledging  journey  of  Nordenskiold  and  Palander 
from  Spitzbergen,  while  a  diet  productive  of  scurvy  was 
taken  without  lime-juice,  they  used  spirits  and  did  not 
have  the  disease.  We  must  repeat  again  that  any  favor- 
able effects  that  may  seem  due  to  alcohol  are  so  exclu- 
sively in  those  who  use  it  moderately. 

The  abuse  of  alcohol  is  a  frequent  cause  of  mental 
alienation  and  of  suicide.  Dujardin-Beaumetz  shows 
that  the  limit  of  safety  in  the  habitual  consumption  of 
alcohol  is  about  seven  and  a  half  grains  per  pound  of 
body  weight  per  day. 

The  doubtful  advantage,  or  at  least  undemonstrated 
benefit  of  alcohol  in  moderation,  the  undoubted  and 
demonstrated  injury  to  the  body  and  mind  caused  by  its 
abuse,  and  the  misery  and  crime  which  so  often  springs 
from  its  use,  have  built  up  a  political  party  in  America 


198  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

and  England  demanding  the  total  prohibition  of  the 
alcohol  traffic.  Like  all  parties  with  an  intense  belief, 
this  party  is  intolerant,  and  has  run  into  an  extreme, 
both  in  its  arguments,  and  in  its  remedies.  Its  advocates 
attribute  so  much  of  the  poverty,  misery,  and  crime  to 
alcohol,  that  were  they  correct,  the  absence  of  alcohol 
would  result  in  the  elimination  of  practically  all  our  dis- 
tresses. They  substantiate  their  position  by  statistics. 
They  would  show  that  a  large  number  of  convictions  in 
every  place  where  liquor  is  used,  are  due  to  drunkenness 
or  crime  resulting  from  it.  Very  true  this  is,  but  they 
omit  to  state  that  these  numbers  are  principally  due  to 
repetitions  of  offences  of  a  minor  order  by  habitual 
offenders,  and  consequently  do  not  represent  a  condition 
of  the  population.  Another  demonstration  which  they 
offer  is,  that  a  great  majority  of  all  criminals  in  prison 
have  been  more  or  less  users  of  alcohol,  and  therefore 
alcohol  is  the  cause  of  from  80  to  90  per  cent,  of  all 
crime.  They  forget  to  state  what  the  proportion  of 
alcohol  takers  in  the  whole  population  is  to  the  abstain- 
ers, and  therefore  fail  to  show  which  element  furnishes 
the  larger  proportion  of  crime. 

I  once  undertook  an  investigation  of  this  subject.  I 
was,  however,  obliged  to  give  it  up,  as  my  means  did  not 
permit  the  accurate  ascertainment  of  the  proportion  of 
abstainers  to  drinkers  in  the  whole  population  investi- 
gated. As  far  as  the  matter  went,  however,  the  balance 
was  heavily  against  liquor  users  in  offences  tried  by  city 
justices,  while  in  offences  coming  up  before  the  Superior 


DIET.  199 

Judges  the  balance  was  slightly  against  the  total  abstain- 
ers. That  is  the  large  majority  of  the  population  involved 
in  using  liquor  furnished  more  than  their  quota  in  the 
small  offences,  while  the  small  minority  of  abstainers  fur- 
nish more  than  their  quota  (2  per  cent.)  of  the  large 
offences.  It  may  be  said,  that  a  successful  criminal  of 
all  persons  must  be  at  least  temperate,  for  drunkenness  of 
all  things  is  the  betrayer  of  secrets.  The  criminal  must 
be  silent  or  he  is  lost.  The  Massachusetts  labor  statistics 
for  1881  show  this  still  more  clearly.  In  Suffolk  County 
72  per  cent,  of  all  the  sentences  were  for  drunkenness, 
liquor  selling,  and  rum  offences,  most  of  them  being  of  a 
minor  character.  Of  the  graver  offences,  25  per  cent, 
were  committed  by  total  abstainers.  For  the  various 
licentious  offences  the  total  abstainers  committed  from 
37  to  42  per  cent. 

For  larceny,  29  per  cent.;  for  breaking  and  entering, 
37  per  cent.;  for  forgery,  70  per  cent.;  for  gambling,  69 
per  cent.;  for  violation  of  Sunday  law,  58  per  cent,  were 
total  abstainers.  We  are  under  the  same  difficulty 
already  mentioned  to  ascertain  the  proportion  which  the 
total  abstainers  bear  to  the  whole  population,  but  it  is 
probable  that  they  bear  more  than  their  quota  in  these 
crimes.  If  we  followed  the  logic  of  the  prohibitionists 
who  figure  the  number  of  those  in  prison  who  have  used 
alcohol,  and  then  say  that  the  crimes  of  these  were 
caused  by  alcohol,  we  should  be  obliged  to  admit  also 
that  the  25  per  cent,  of  sentences  for  grave  crimes  in 
Suffolk  County,  committed  by  total  abstainers,  were  due 


2OO  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

to  total  abstinence.  We  must  admit  that  many  crimes, 
and  many  serious  ones,  too,  such  as  manslaughter  and 
murder,  are  due  to  drink,  and  that  there  is  no  just 
reason  for  thinking  that  total  abstinence  encourages  any 
crimes.  An  indication  that  the  prohibitionists  are  extreme 
in  their  arguments  is  the  fact  that,  in  the  interior  of 
Turkey  and  Arabia,  the  religion  of  the  people  not  only 
prohibits  all  alcohol,  but  the  people  live  up  to  their 
doctrine.  I  have  travelled  extensively  in  these  countries 
and  can  bear  witness  that  poverty,  misery,  injustice,  and 
crime  are  not  lacking.  Poverty  is  the  rule,  insecurity 
of  property  or  person  general,  robbery  and  assassina- 
tion frequent.  Look  again  at  China  and  India.  Where 
can  one  find  so  large  a  proportion  of  misery  and  weak- 
ness, going  down  even  to  child  murder  ?  In  these 
countries  alcohol  is,  or  was,  very  little  used.  When  or 
in  what  annals  can  be  seen  such  deliberate,  cold  blooded, 
and  horrible  wholesale  assassination  as  amongst  the  total 
abstaining  thugs  of  India  ?  (See  early  reports  of  English 
rule  in  India.)  Where  has  been  exceeded  in  cold  cruelty 
the  deeds  of  the  Arab  abstainers  who  control  the  African 
slave  trade  ? 

With  these  things  we  cannot  as  reasonable  men  attri- 
bute all  poverty,  misery,  or  crime,  nor  even  the  majority 
of  it  to  alcohol.  The  truth  is  that  the  criminal  is  a 
defective  man.  Examinations  of  the  skulls  of  criminals 
and  of  their  brains,  almost  always  shows  congenital 
defect.  The  same  thing  holds  true  to  an  extent  of  those 
who  fail  in  life's  struggle,  It  is  these  who  seek  in  alco- 


DIET.  2O I 

hoi,  at  first  perhaps  a  spur  to  keep  them  even  in  the  race, 
and  afterwards  a  Lethe  in  which  to  drown  their  respon- 
sibilities and  'their  weakness.  It  is  more  the  criminal 
and  the  unsuccessful  who  makes  the  drunkard,  than  the 
drunkard  who  makes  the  criminal  or  unsuccessful,  al- 
though they  dovetail  together.  That  weakness  some- 
where is  the  cause  of  drunkenness  we  may  surmise,  when 
we  find  in  medicine  the  fact  that  inebriety  often  follows 
strokes  of  paralysis,  overwork,  anxiety,  sun-stroke,  or 
other  weakening  influences. 

The  use  of  alcohol,  as  of  all  these  agents,  is  therefore 
dangerous  in  disease,  because  the  weakened  condition 
caused  by  the  disease  is  the  door-opener  and  tempter 
to  abuse. 

A  better  policy  is  a  rest  or  relief  from  the  probable 
producer  of  one's  troubles,  and  a  temperance  even  stricter 
than  that  practised  in  health.  Another  indication  that 
weakness,  or  the  inability  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
one's  situation  or  surroundings,  to  maintain  the  standard 
of  life  set  up  in  one's  condition,  or  to  hold  up  under  the 
nerve  strain  of  the  society  which  the  individual  is  part 
is  the  main  cause  of  alcohol  abuse,  is  shown  in  the 
results  of  the  use  of  stimulants  and  narcotics  upon 
savages. 

While  they  remain  isolated  and  only  subject  to  the 
strain  of  their  own  dull  condition,  no  general  or  ruinous 
abuse  or  excess  has  been  observed.  As  soon,  however, 
as  they  come  in  contact  with  a  more  developed  con- 
dition, with  a  higher  standard  more  difficult  to  reach 


2O2  TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 

and  to  maintain,  we  do  find  immediately  a  riot  of  ruinous 
excess.  In  the  American  Indians  we  find  those  least  in 
contact  with  civilization  are  those  least  injured  by  alcohol, 
while  those  on  the  borders  and  cheek-by-jowl  with  the 
pioneer  are  the  most  injured.  It  will  not  do  to  say  that 
the  white  man  is  the  introducer  of  the  knowledge  of 
alcohol,  and  that  it  is  this  that  has  caused  the  excesses 
of  the  Indians,  and  not  the  pressure  of  the  white 
civilization. 

Mescal,  one  of  the  fiercest  forms  of  spirit,  has  been 
known  for  an  indefinite  period  to  the  Indians  of  the 
southwest,  and  without  causing  injurious  abuse  as  long 
as  no  pressure  was  put  on  the  Indians  from  our  civiliza- 
tion. 

While  women  are  weaker  than  men,  and  consequently 
might  be  expected  to  use  more  stimulants  or  narcotics 
than  men,  under  this  theory,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
they  are  not  so  much  engaged  in  the  outside  fight  as  men. 
Neither  are  they  so  much  the  authors  of  change  in  con- 
dition. It  appears  to  be  the  responsible  ones,  the  inven- 
tors, creators  of  ideas,  and  the  practicers  of  new  methods 
who  most  demand  extraneous  aid  or  relief. 

In  the  great  moment  of  women's  lives,  childbirth,  the 
use  of  narcotics  in  the  shape  of  chloroform  or  ether  has 
become  almost  universal  amongst  the  highly  civilized. 

Under  similar  conditions  we  cannot  say  what  the 
result  would  be  as  to  the  comparative  consumption  of 
these  agents  by  the  two  sexes.  We  can,  however,  affirm 
that  with  the  increased  outside  activity  of  women,  has 


DIET.  203 

also  gone  an  increased  consumption  of  stimulants  and 
narcotics. 

In  any  investigation  of  this  subject,  we  must  always 
remember  the  enormously  greater  danger  to  women  than 
to  men  of  any  abuse  of  drugs  causing  unconsciousness. 
Consequently,  everything  else  being  equal,  women 
would  be  less  likely  to  use  them.  One  very  serious 
effect  of  the  abuse  of  alcohol  is  the  injury  of  the  body 
or  mind,  or  both,  of  the  children  of  inebriates.  A  num- 
ber of  studies  of  this  question  show  it  to  be  a  serious 
matter.  Weak  constitution,  weak  mind,  or  weak 
morals,  one  or  more  of  these,  is  almost  always  the  un- 
happy inheritance  of  such  children.  Drunkenness 
habitually  is  a  preliminary  to  extermination.  In  the  in- 
dividual it  leads  to  impotence  and  sterility  directly,  and 
thus  is  doubly  opened  the  black  pit  of  eternal  death.  I 
deem  it  unnecessary,  and  therefore  unwise,  to  go  into 
details  on  this  subject.  It  is  probably  sufficient  to  say 
that  the  proof  of  these  statements  is  easy  of  access  in 
the  works  of  several  physicians  and  alienists.  Dr. 
Howe,  Mandsley,  and  Morel  are  among  the  latter.  To 
show  the  character  of  their  testimony  in  one  line,  I  may 
cite  Dr.  Howe's  statement  that  out  of  300  idiots  145  were 
the  offspring  of  intemperate  parents. 

TOBACCO. — Tobacco  is  prepared  from  the  leaves  of  a 
plant  native  to  America,  but  now  grown  nearly  all  over 
the  world.  It  is  variously  used  in  snuff,  taken  through 
the  nose,  chewing  in  the  mouth,  smoking  in  pipes,  cigars, 
and  cigarettes.  Its  effects  are  produced  by  an  alkaloid 


2O4  TASKS  BY   T 'W '1 'LIGHT. 

called  nicotine.  No  lesions  have  thus  far  been  found 
in  the  body  that  could  be  attributed  to  tobacco.  The 
first  use  of  tobacco  generally  produces  nausea  and  col- 
lapse, but  the  body  and  nerves  in  the  great  majority  of 
cases  soon  learn  to  tolerate  its  presence.  In  modera- 
tion it  does  not  generally  do  harm,  but  it  tends  readily 
to  excess.  When  abused  it  causes  nervousness,  sleep- 
lessness, incapacity  for  prolonged  attention  or  work,  and 
derangement  of  the  digestion.  The  effects  of  excess  of 
tobacco  may  so  weaken  the  system  as  to  lead  to  the 
abuse  of  alcohol  as  a  relief.  Several  educators  state  that 
they  can  determine  the  time  when  a  young  student  com- 
mences the  use  of  tobacco.  It  may,  they  say,  be  recog- 
nized by  a  record  of  his  recitations.  The  tobacco  users' 
capacity  diminishes. 

Professor  Oliver,  of  Annapolis,  says  that  a  tobacco 
using  boy  is  incapable  of  drawing  a  straight  line.  To- 
bacco is  unfavorable  to  the  full  use  of  the  muscles,  and 
is  in  consequence  forbidden,  at  least  in  quantity,  by 
trainers  of  athletes  to  those  under  their  charge.  Full 
power  of  muscle  and  steadiness  of  nerve  are  both 
diminished  by  tobacco.  A  number  of  literary  and 
military  men  have  stated  that  they  derived  help  and 
force  from  tobacco.  A  number  of  prominent  men, 
from  Carneades,  who  took  hellebore  when  studying,  to 
Byron,  have  had  this  idea  in  reference  to  stimulants  or 
narcotics,  but  it  is  probable  that  they  were  deceived  as 
to  any  direct  benefit,  and  that  such  advantage  as  they 
derived  from  these  agents  was  by  the  rest  the  paralysis 


DIET.  20$ 

or  partial  paralysis  of  the  mind  these  agents  give,  or  by 
the  slowing  of  the  brain  activities;  sometimes,  perhaps, 
too  rapid  and  exhausting  in  geniuses.  Tobacco  does 
not  lead  to  action,  but  in  its  best  and  most  desired 
effects  produces  calm  and  repose.  I  commenced  the 
habitual  use  of  tobacco  at  about  the  age  of  thirty,  and 
during  a  prolonged  period  of  nervousness  and  insomnia. 
It  appeared  to  benefit  me  greatly,  especially  after  any 
necessary  mental  work  that  aggravated  my  troubles. 
Since  my  recovery,  however,  I  have  frequently  fallen 
into  an  excess  in  tobacco,  and  have  my  old  troubles  return 
until  the  excessive  tobacco  is  cut  off.  As  far  as  mind 
work  is  concerned,  tobacco  diminishes  my  mind  power, 
but  is  a  great  luxury  in  taking  off  the  strain  of  the  work. 
It  is  a  difficult  drug  to  do  without  when  the  habit  in  its 
use  is  once  fixed.  Tobacco  is  a  food  to  some  animals, 
or  at  least  produces  no  apparent  ill  effects  when  eaten. 
While  in  Egypt,  a  goat  came  every  afternoon  to  the 
street  in  front  of  Shepherd's  Hotel  and  greedily  ate  the 
cigar  stumps  which  were  thrown  there  in  considerable 
numbers. 

OPIUM. — Opium  is  the  product  of  the  flower  of 
the  poppy.  It  is  the  inspissated  juice  of  the  unripe 
capsules  of  the  plant.  Opium  is  used  by  taking  inter- 
nally, by  hypodermic  injections,  and  more  generally 
by  smoking.  It  does  not  lead  to  action,  but  deadens  the 
nervous  system  to  a  calm  which  is  usually  pushed  to  un- 
consciousness. Sometimes  opium  produces  delirium, 
and  sometimes  convulsions.  The  habitual  use  of  opium 


2O6  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

usually  causes  emaciation  and  a  greenish,  deadly  pallor. 
Body  and  mind  ruin  is  the  result  of  its  habitual  use, 
which  seems  to  be  almost  always  in  excess.  Ovulation 
is  diminished  in  the  female,  and  finally  arrested,  and  im- 
potence produced  by  it  in  the  man.  It  is  a  dangerous 
and  damnable  drug  for  use  as  a  customary  narcotic. 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  following  the  Chinese  legis- 
lators so  familiar  with  its  effects,  and  in  condemning  all 
its  uses  as  a  habit.  The  effects  of  opium  are  produced 
by  a  number  of  alkaloids,  the  principal  of  which  is 
morphia,  though  narcotina  is  a  close  second.  The  pro- 
portions of  these  two  in  opium  are  about  as  ten  to  six. 

Opium  and  one  of  its  alkaloids,  morphia,  are  use- 
ful in  medicine  for  various  purposes,  but  in  their  em- 
ployment the  danger  of  forming  the  opium  or  morphine 
habit  should  never  be  lost  sight  of.  Pigeons,  ducks,  and 
chickens  are  little  susceptible  to  opium.  In  pigeons  it 
is  almost  impossible  to  cause  death  with  opium  by  the 
mouth  (Mitchell).  A  hypodermic  of  morphia,  however, 
finishes  them  easily. 

The  accurately  known  effects  of  stimulants  or  narcotics, 
used  habitually  in  moderation,  are  more  against  them 
than  in  their  favor.  Used  in  excess,  there  is  but  the 
unfavorable  side  to  present.  This  danger,  to  which 
every  user  of  these  agents  is  subject,  from  the  accurately 
known  point  of  view,  completely  counterindicates  their  use. 

On  the  other  hand  there  are  general  considerations 
which  must  make  the  conservative  and  thoughtful  refrain 
from  a  prohibitory  rule  in  regard  to  all  such  agents. 


DIET.  2O7 

In  a  view  of  the  world  we  find  some  one  of  these 
agents  everywhere.  Humanity  has  everywhere  found 
some  stimulant  or  narcotic,  and  used  it  in  spite  of  a  first 
bad  taste. 

In  a  general  way  we  find  a  proportion  between  the 
activity  and  progressiveness  of  a  people,  and  its  total  per 
capita  consumption  of  these  agents.  As  the  activity  is 
large,  so  is  the  consumption  of  stimulants  or  narcotics 
large,  not  in  the  individual,  but  in  the  whole  population. 
As  the  population  is  stationary  and  non-progressive,  so  is 
the  consumption  reduced.  That  is  to  say,  the  general 
proportion  will  hold  good  of  the  sum  of  these  agents, 
although  in  some  special  one  it  may  not.  Thus  in  the 
active  States  of  our  Union  we  find  a  total  per  capita 
consumption  of  tea,  coffee,  tobacco,  opium,  alcohol, 
cocoa,  coca,  chloroform,  ether,  etc.,  aggregating  greater 
than  irt  any  other  portion  of  the  world,  so  also  in  these 
States  the  daily  change  and  progress  is  greater  than  it  is 
any  where  else.  At  the  same  time  there  may  be  a 
greater  consumption  per  capita  in  some  countries  of 
coffee,  in  others  of  tea,  in  others  of  opium,  or  hashheesh, 
or  coca,  or  what  not,  but  the  general  consumption  of 
the  agents  producing  stimulant  and  narcotic  effects  is 
greater  with  us  than  elsewhere.  Opium  and  Indian 
hemp  are  the  drugs  least  connected  with  progress.  A 
general  characteristic  of  enslaved  or  non-progressive 
countries  is,  or  was,  a  total  abstinence  from  stimulants 
or  great  temperance.  In  countries  we  have  Turkey, 
Venezuela  and  Colombia  as  illustrations  of  this,  while  in 


208  TASKS  BY   TWILIGHT. 

races  we  have  the  fellah  of  Egypt,  the  peon  of  Mexico, 
the  slaves  in  our  old  South,  and  the  ryot  of  India. 
There  seems,  therefore,  to  be  something  in  narcotics  and 
stimulants  that  helps  man  in  progress  more  than  it 
hinders. 

We  may  presume  that  it  is  a  relief  from  the  change  and 
strain  of  progress,  or  that  it  so  acts  as  to  break  the  ruts 
of  custom,  and  make  progress  more  possible  or  prompt. 
We  may  presume  any  reason,  but  we  know  nothing. 

The  fact,  however,  of  the  general  correspondence  of 
progress  and  the  highest  estate  of  man,  with  a  large  use 
of  these  agents  is  not  to  be  denied.  As  the  present  con- 
dition of  man  and  his  diet  and  life  must  be  expected  to 
change  in  progress  ;  as  we  all  desire  progress  and  hope 
for  improvement  and  better  things  ;  as  no  man  knows 
what  lines  progress  will  follow  ;  as  the  past  and  present 
are  the  best  guides  to  the  future  ;  and  as  stimulants  and 
narcotics  appear  to  be  and  to  have  been  a  concomitant 
of  progress,  so  we  would  be  unwise  to  prohibit  totally 
their  use.  In  so  doing  we  might  handicap  the  people 
we  intended  to  benefit,  and  with  our  prohibition  of 
stimulants  or  narcotics,  prohibit  progress  and  ruin  the 
chances  of  our  own  people  in  the  great  race  of  life. 

These  reasons  make  it  seem  wise  to  counsel  against 
abuse  and  excess,  rather  than  against  any  use  whatever 
of  these  agents. 

All  of  them  are  unfavorable  to  growth  in  the  young. 
Stunting  and  injury  seem  to  be  the  uniform  effects  of 
the  stronger  kinds  upon  the  immature. 


DIET.  209 

It  is  therefore  judicious  to  advise  against  the  use  of 
any  stimulant  or  narcotic  before  the  age  of  puberty  is 
well  passed  ;  against  alcohol  or  tobacco  until  the  growth 
is  complete,  say  till  the  twenty-fifth  year  ;  and  always 
against  any  enslavement  to  these  agents  or  to  any 
excess. 

The  Universe  is  the  Will  to  live.  So  says  Schopen- 
hauer. The  Force,  the  manifestation  in  movement,  the 
Soul  pervading  all  things,  the  "  Will  to  live,"  this  is  the 
Universe.  The  Will  to  live  better  is  a  necessary  result 
of  the  Will  to  live.  When  we  leave  the  protozoa  and 
single-cell  life,  we  find  all  higher  life  types  of  cell  colony 
organisms,  incapable  of  long  holding  to  a  complex  com- 
bination of  cells  in  the  individual.  Cell  combination  is 
accompanied  by  death.  Increasing  complexities  of  life, 
and  higher  improvement  in  the  individual  require  the 
inherited  cell  habit  of  organization.  No  evolution  is 
conceivable  without  this.  This  cell  habit,  or  cell  ex- 
perience, and  the  death  of  individual  cell  colonies 
require  for  holding  the  good  and  getting  the  better 
reproduction.  Reproduction  continues  all  life  above 
the  single  cell,  and  alone  makes  improvement  possible. 
Love  is  the  manifestation  of  the  Will  to  live  in  human- 
ity. All  kinds  of  love  are  from  this  force — whether 
altruistic  for  humanity,  for  a  race,  a  family,  a  child,  or 
sexual  to  produce  the  child,  and  conquer  Death.  Love 
is  the  soul  of  life.  The  necessities  make  it  dominant. 
In  its  reproductive  form  it  is  an  absolute  essential  to 


210  TASKS  BY  TWILIGHT. 

both  life  and  improvement.  So  indeed  we  find  repro- 
ductive Love  the  crown  and  glory  of  every  living  thing. 
It  is  from  its  power  that  stem  and  leaf  transform  in 
color  and  odor  to  make  the  flower.  It  is  from  its  power 
that  the  highest  characteristics  of  self-sacrifice,  courage, 
and  sympathy  appear  in  the  animal.  This  Love  caps  the 
climax  of  life.  It  is  the  beautiful,  fragrant  rose  of 
existence  that  induces  a  toleration  of  the  thorny  bush 
on  which  it  grows,  indeed  induces  cultivation,  fertiliza- 
tion, and  hard  work  to  obtain  it.  There  are  stink-weeds 
in  nature  and  stink-weeds  in  the  heart.  To  have  one's 
heart  flower  out  in  such  a  way  may  fairly  be  attributed 
to  neglect,  but  by  no  means  does  it  justify  one  so 
cursed  in  telling  others  that  there  is  nothing  but  stink- 
weed  in  all  nature.  So  Schopenhauer  and  many  more 
unhappy  ones  seeing  much,  still,  overgrown  with  weeds, 
see  nothing. 

These  philosophers  lead  us  into  no  thoroughfares,  and 
end  at  last  at  a  dead  wall.  Nothing,  bis-nothing,  three- 
fold nothing  ;  the  nothingness  of  nothing  nothingfied, 
this  is  where  they  dump  our  life  and  hope. 

The  pessimist  leads  us  into  a  land  of  desolation.  He 
makes  for  the  sight  blossoms  of  ugliness,  for  the  smell 
repellant  odors,  for  the  taste  bitterness  and  gall,  for 
the  hearing  harsh  discord,  and  death  for  the  touch  that 
is  the  only  relief  from  a  desert  whose  scrawny  life  lives 
but  to  distress  us. 

All  this  is  no  thoroughfare,  all  dead  wall,  all  aimless 
all  hopeless,  all  desert,  desolation,  and  death, 


DIET.  211 

The  preceding  pages  are  notes  growing  from  the 
endeavor  to  find  the  harmonies  and  necessities  of 
nature,  from  the  search  for  the  rose  though  the  thorn 
tear  us,  though  the  weed  must  be  killed  to  secure  the 
beauty  of  bloom,  and  from  the  belief  in  a  glorious  evo- 
lution to  a  better  human  life. 


THE    END. 


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